Dreams
by Wanting Memories
Summary: Kagome...there is something wrong with Kagome. What do Inuyasha's dreams mean?
1. Dreams

He awoke again with the same lingering feeling descending over him. Sweat ran down his forehead into his open eyes and he blinked it away with a snarl. Rubbing his claws over is eyes, he remembered the dream he had dreamed off and on ever since he saw Kikyo the day she was re-animated. Well, if it was really _all_ she. Her ashes, her grave soil, and a shattered fraction of her soul were all that were left of her. The part of her soul that remained in the new body was the part that hated him. If that was true, why had she helped him in the miasma? She could have been through with him. Why also did she look so torn when she saw his feelings for Kagome?

And why did he feel this way for Kagome? She was _not_ Kikyo. Kaede insisted that she was the re-incarnation, but she was nothing like Kikyo. Kagome loved to live, loved her life, while Kikyo could only wish for that kind of compassion for life. Kikyo detested her position she was born to, while Kagome accepted and embraced it. Kagome had also forgiven him many times over, while at the first false sign of betrayal Kikyo had turned on him. But then…Kagome had always been loved and allowed to be herself, as Kikyo only had the love of a child sister and himself. Then she lost even that. Still…

The dream he had been having was haunting. In this dream he was still pinned to that tree, but he was awake. He saw the world pass by him, and he saw ghosts from his past pass him by too. His mother, Kikyo, his brother. His jaw locked and his claws immobile, he was unable to save his mother and Kikyo from dying again, unable to reach for the Tetsusaiga, and he could feel the scorching of the demon blood begin to surge through his veins. Then Kagome was in front of him, blocking out all others. Her eyes curious and endearing. This was how she must have looked when she first saw him. He couldn't move—he wanted to scream at her to "GET AWAY! GET THE HELL AWAY, KAGOME!" before he couldn't stop himself. But she had her hand on the arrow, the only protection she would have if he lost himself. Kagome—the only thing that mattered now—was beginning to grip the arrow and he could feel himself slipping, without the Tetsusaiga for him to grip. Where _was_ the sword?

Suddenly, as Kagome began to pull, he could see past her. Kikyo—his first love, the women he had been prepared to live with forever—held the Tetsusaiga. He felt his cheeks grow hotter as his blood began to boil; as he saw her eyes were filled with nothing. Blanks—that's all. Then a smile stretched across her lips as she grasped the blade in two hands and it broke.

A hulk of energy burst through his veins and his eye clouded red. His claws lengthened with the want—the need—for blood. His fangs sharpened and as _his_ last thought pierced through _his_ mind, he felt his fangs begin to hunger for…for… her. Kagome was still in front if him, oblivious to his change, and he felt the spell of the arrow…let go.

He blinked and opened his jaws to taste her blood and then—

He would wake up.

Always, then he would wake up.

Inuyasha ceased rubbing his eyes and peered down below his tree to where Kagome slept with Shippo, the little fox-pup curled at her side. She remained asleep, lit by the thinning moonlight, and he never intended to tell her of his dream.


	2. Stars

"Inuyasha?"

He grumbled and shifted a bit on his branch.

"Inuyasha?"

He licked his lips and shifted again.

"INUYASHA!"

"Waaa!" He rolled over out of instinct to find he had no ground beneath him. He thus found himself in a heap on the ground and she hadn't even _said_ the damn word.

He fumbled to his feet and growled, "What do you want?"

The amazing thing about Kagome was that she could see the sunny side of everything, so as he turned to stare her in the face she was smiling.

She laughed. "At least I didn't say 'sit'!"

WAM! Stars appeared around his eyes and he vaguely wondered why he could see the sky when his face was smashed into the ground.

"Oops. Sorry, Inuyasha."

Through dirt-covered teeth, Inuyasha was able to mutter a muffled "Grrrr…"


	3. A Crack in the Wall

The dreams _had_ to stop. He was loosing his focus because of them. Kagome had caught him off-guard in the tree the other day and he had fallen out—a thing he would never normally do. The dreams were affecting his relationship with the group as well. He wasn't leading as much anymore, and he was failing to detect danger as well. He was even being more patient with Shippo, and of course the little fox was taking as much advantage as possible.

He even softened more to Kagome—too much. One night he had gone to bathe while the others prepared for bed. The cool water actually brought a small portion of peace to him that he also would normally ignore. As he rested against a water-smoothed rock, he rolled the beads around his neck between his thumb and first finger. The click of his claws over them actually sent a strange feeling through him.

Vulnerability.

Maybe it wasn't the sound of the beads against his claws, he realized. But, maybe it was the faint sent he caught in the breeze.

Kagome was close. He smelled her unique sent on the air. His hand dropped from the beads into the water and he sank down until his shoulders were almost covered. He blinked as he saw her figure silhouetted in the distance.

"Inuyasha?"

He sank against the stone up to his chin in the stream. She couldn't see him like this. Not when he was feeling this way, not when her sent was melting him. He pushed himself low and behind the rock to avoid the moonlight.

"Inuyasha? Are you there?" She was closer now. Close enough for him to smell her clearly. He heard the grass bend under her feet a time or two then stop. He peeked over the stone's edge and saw that she was undressing.

Inuyasha gulped in a breath and breached his head completely under water. No no no _no_! He was too raw for this, his emotions exposed, his armor peeled back. As he broke the surface of the stream and smelled her on the other side of the rock, he felt his body heat rise. She too was bathing.

He had to get out before she found him because she would either make him sit or he would do something…soft. Her sigh was what kept him there.

He took in a deep breath and whispered, "Kagome?"

She nearly slipped under the water and hit her head when she jumped. This didn't help Inuyasha's position much because he caught an accidental glimpse of her beautifully naked back.

"INUYASHA! SI--!"

"Wait! I didn't mean to!"

The end of the word fell from her mouth, silent. He had braced himself for the blow and opened his eyes and unclasped his fingers when he realized she wasn't going to say it. His claws had poked tiny holes in the rough flesh of his palm and he licked away the blood.

He heard her panting, no doubt hiding as low as she could into the water on the other side of the stone. _Oh she's only an arm's length away, _he gritted is teeth, _and we are both…_

No, no. Not now. Not _ever._

The water stirred on her side. "What are you doing out here?" She breathed.

He had to think. He was bathing—getting his thoughts together too—bathing, yes that was it.

"I was bathing."

"I thought you washed last night?"

He grumbled, "Well that little fox's smell was all over me."

There was silence for a moment as she waited for more from him. When he didn't give anything else she sighed "oh."

They sat there like that, both pressed on either side of the rock, waiting for the other to speak. The water was cooling more rapidly as the sun had been set longer. Inuyasha heard Kagome shiver and smelled her discomfort.

"What's wrong, Inuyasha?"

"Nothing," he knew she wasn't convinced.

She snickered. "Oh, it's one of those, huh?"

He raised his eyebrow to no one. Her eyes would tell him if the feelings he was feeling—the want to tell her—were possible to satisfy. Lifting himself over the stone so he could see her eyes, he forgot the unique position in which they remained. He looked down and remembered as her scorching eyes peered into his.

She raised her lip and he knew he couldn't get away from it again.

"SIT! Inuyasha, SIT!"

He scared some fish out from the bottom of the stone when he hit the second time. Turning over in the water, he broke through the surface and swallowed fresh air.

"You could have KILLED ME!" Pant, pant. "Kagome?"

It was quiet. She had left while he was under water and taken her clothes with her. "KAGOME!" He snarled. The nerve! He was about to open up to her! He sighed as a little voice inside him insisted it was better this way, better for her to "sit" him then for him to expose himself to her. Better to live behind the wall that growled at her, the wall that wouldn't let him savor her smell as she walked with him, the wall that wouldn't let him cry at all—even to her. That wall was better; because the last time he let it down he had been pinned to a tree in a dreamless sleep-death for fifty years. He had been betrayed. Kikyo had willingly betrayed him—used the last of her power to kill him. Even the demon inside himself hadn't taken him over to allow his claws to kill her. He just went for the jewel. Never her, even when he thought it was her who tried to kill him before, he never even thought of killing her. But she did to him. That was her will. No monster like Naraku could make her _want_ to kill him.

The wall was good. The wall kept him in and her out, but tonight there had been a crack and he had let some of himself out, or she let some of herself in. He wasn't sure which way it was, but it couldn't happen again. Never again.


	4. Knock on Wood

Miroku sat hunched over the coals of their fire for that night trying to keep the damp wood aflame. It had been raining and they were in search for the shards again, so Kagome's noodle cups had spent valuable mealtime in her pack, away from the group's clutches. Bangs fell into his eyes as he stirred the fading warmth and he tossed them out of the way.

"Miroku?" Sango sat down next to him.

He smiled and looked up to her. "Yes?"

"Don't look at me that way, Monk. I just found some dry wood." She rolled her eyes and got back up from her seat. Miroku's eyes followed the curve of her hip into her leg as she walked away from him. Tempting, but he didn't feel like having her hand imprinted onto his face right now. He trailed behind her, managing to catch a few more glances at her lovely hind-side.

They came to a small clearing a short walk away and found the hut in the center. The dew was clinging to the grass this evening, and Miroku felt his sandaled-feet collecting seeds. The air was still moist and the hut had the look of neglect for some time. The roof was falling in a few places, the wooden steps were rotting, and the cloth to cover the opening for the door was in rags. Everything smelled like mildew and wet. Miroku scanned around the outside of the hut to look for a firewood shelter. There was none. And no wood for that matter.

"Sango?"

"Yes?"

"Um…the wood? I hope you didn't mean this old hut. Because the boards would need several days in the sun just to _pretend_ to be dry." He stood next to her with his hand on her shoulder.

"Monk, I suggest you move your hand before it travels somewhere I wouldn't want it—you wouldn't want it there after I sent Kirara after you either." Miroku thought about it, and then removed his hand with a smile. Sango continued. "There is a whole pile of firewood that has been kept dry with skins and straw inside the hut."

Miroku raised his eyebrow. "That seems like a lot of work to go through for firewood when you have a shelter."

Sango nodded and said, "I thought so too. Maybe you can take a look at it and make sure it's safe."

Miroku nodded and proceeded to carefully enter the hut. It was even worse inside. The walls were full of holes from the old trails of woodworms leaving their footprints behind. The air was so wet, Miroku was forced to take small, paced breathes to keep from hyperventilating and taking in too much moisture. The fire wood was piled near the back left corner of the hut, close enough to the walls to be out of the way, but far enough to keep the water seeping in the hut from affecting the wood. Nothing else remained in the hut, not even and old kettle or bed throw.

"Hmm," Miroku rubbed his smooth chin and bent down next to the pile wrapped in skins. Sango was right, someone took at great deal of care with keeping the wood dry and safe. The pile sat on one layer of thick, tough leather, another layer of straw, then wrapped in heavy yet soft skins.

Sango chuckled. "Well, if worse comes to worse, we'll still have some nice skins to wrap up in tonight."

Miroku neglected to respond as he carefully touched the skins and said a prayer. "I don't think it has any incantations on it—at least not the skins." He began to unwrap the wood.

The wood once freed smelled amazingly fresh and rich, as if the skins had helped to preserve the wood's newly cut air. _Well, that's what it was meant for, I'm sure,_ thought the monk. The wood was indeed dry and there was plenty of it for several nights use. Miroku licked his lips. The group would be dinning tonight!

"I don't sense anything strange…do you?"

Sango shook her head and picked up an arm's full of firewood. "Okay then, let's get going. I'm starving."

When Kagome came back with Shippo and Kirara, she found Miroku stirring a large noodle cup, Sango hurriedly eating another, and three more steaming cups sitting near the fire. She was so happy to see hot food she didn't notice one person was missing. Well to be more specific, one half dog-demon was missing.


	5. Focusing

Inuyasha sat high in a tree overhead unmoving, hungry but refusing to eat. He needed to get that dream off his mind somehow, and he figured if he didn't eat then his thoughts would be occupied with his basic hunger need rather than an emotional gulch. The fox pup had fallen asleep with a full stomach next to Kirara instead of Kagome tonight. Miroku had been in such good spirits he had decided to bed down a little bit closer to Sango tonight. Inuyasha looked forward to when she would awaken in the morning and what her reaction would be. Kagome, as usual, sleep in her "sleeping bag" directly under his branch.

He had been watching her all night, worried about her. His dream did not help his natural instincts to protect her. _You tell yourself it is just instinct? Come on, you know better than that…_

"It's cold," he breathed and wrapped his arms deeper into his sleeves. He wanted to sleep, but was too cold and awake to do that. His reaction time would be down tomorrow. He hadn't eaten today and needed this sleep to compensate for that, but he was pretty sure at this point he was not going to get it.

Kagome's hair really shinned in the moonlight. It was like a soft glow fading over her neck and shoulders. His heart began to stir and he for once did not snarl inwardly at this feeling. _Kagome, Kagome…what am I supposed to do about you?_

His body decided for his mind. He silently hopped down from branch to branch until he reached the ground. He squatted on the balls of his feet and the palms of his hands for a moment, searching for Miroku's movements, or Sango's awakening—anything that would keep him from doing what he was planning to do.

Kagome was merely four strides ahead of him, and he felt himself crawling to her. Her back turned toward him; Kagome shifted in her sleep and muttered something. Inuyasha stopped dead still and waited for another motion.

None.

He was doing this.

He could smell Kagome's sweet breath and her sent intermingling with the smell of the noodles she had eaten before. Inuyasha stretched his body out on his side and lay down behind Kagome. His legs conformed to how her legs were bent and he placed his nose in her hair. Back to front. This was always how he imagined sleeping with Kagome would be, him protecting her from behind. Similar to how he always envisioned it would be if they would ever mate. He would always be protecting and shielding her from the outside world.

But it wasn't enough for him to sleep. It calmed him and comforted him, but _he_ needed to be the one held. He climbed over her sleeping form to her front side and lay down again. This time they were face to face and he had pulled her arm to lay over him and hold him. He caught himself smiling. He had always imagined Kagome sleeping with her back to him, but now he was beginning to think he might like this better. Their breaths intermingled. She had moved her left leg onto his knee so that his right leg was between both of hers. They held each other. If he had not acquired so much practice with holding back tears, he may have even let a few tears fall in this situation. Instead he nuzzled in closer to her to feel her warmth flow from her to him. He felt himself drifting off and almost tried to prevent it. He didn't want to loose this memory of this in all of his bad memories.

Sometime in the night, after even Inuyasha was asleep, Kagome opened her eyes and smiled.

Another odd occurrence became the group even later that night as the fire burned into coals. A small brown lizard spirit crept out from the hot remains of wood, sniffed at the air, and turned in Inuyasha and Kagome's direction. A small, crude smile stretched across the thing's fangs and it quickly made it's way over Inuyasha—scratching his ear in the process—to Kagome.


	6. Morning Thoughts

In the morning, Inuyasha stirred before anyone else. Dew covered his clothes and he couldn't remember why he was lying on grass. _Oh well,_ he thought and stretched. His ear was hurting a little and—

"What the—?" Kagome turned in her sleep onto her back next to him.

Inuyasha blinked…then blinked…and blinked once more.

_Why did I wake up next to Kagome?_

He heard Kagome mutter something. "Mmmm…Inu…stay."

Inuyasha bolted upright and backwards. He couldn't remember anything about last night. Nothing at all. He looked down to Kagome's face and felt a flash of memory return. He had been watching her from the tree branch, admiring her in the moonlight…

Moonlight!

Why couldn't he remember more than damned _moonlight_?

Flustered, Inuyasha reached into his pants to feel his sex. Well, no sticky stuff or anything like that, and his balls didn't feel tender. He brought his hand back up to his face and sniffed. No, no sign there of anything happening like that. He decided to do a double check on Kagome just in case. He kneeled down next to her and sniffed at her waist.

"Mmmm…just her," he whispered to no one. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. _Did_ they do something? Could they have both bathed afterward? Could he just not be tender because he slept it off? _I mean, you've never actually felt yourself after being with a girl because you've never had the opportunity before, have you boy? He-he. See? It just might be true. _

Oh, his mind was cruel. But Kagome would still smell of it, he told himself. Even after bathing she would, because it would be _inside_ her.

_Oh, would it?_

Of course!

_You didn't eat yesterday. You knew then your senses would be down a little today. Maybe you just can't smell it. It is getting pretty close to the new moon isn't it, half-bread?_

Damn, his mind had a point. He didn't like it, and he didn't believe it, but the mind had a point.

Would she remember if they did? One would think Inuyasha would remember if anyone.

This is stupid. If I had mated with her and then bathed, I would remember because the water has been cold the past few days, and she would still smell of it!

_Keep telling yourself that, puppy._

He rubbed his eyes and decided it would be best after all for him to get something to eat.

Kagome awoke with a happy feeling over her. Inuyasha had slept beside her last night. The fact that he had left before she even woke up did not bother her. She expected that he did not want to risk Sango and Miroku catching him. Shippo would understand, he's too young, but Sango and Miroku sure would. The last thing she wanted was Inuyasha to freak out and not speak with her for a few days because of Miroku's taunts.

She yawned and sat up. She felt good, but something was off. Kagome knew her body well and always could tell when she was coming down with the flu or a cold before she really had any signs of it. This…off ness though, didn't feel like the flu or the common cold. She didn't feel sick or bad, but she felt different. Maybe her body was just correlating with her happy thoughts and mood.

Inuyasha held her in his arms last night and slept beside her. That, for now, was all she cared about.


	7. The News

She could not believe what she was seeing. After one skipped period and very stressed-out looking Inuyasha, in a little over one month Kagome broke down a bought a home pregnancy kit.

She remembered leaving the Warring States Era.

"I'm going home for a few days and getting more supplies."

Inuyasha didn't even try to huff. "Do you have that school thing?"

Kagome shook her head, hoping to not look hurried to get home. "It's summer break."

Inuyasha nodded and looked away. She supposed that if she was going to be having a baby she wanted him to be the first to know, considering that he was probably the father. But she honestly didn't remember _doing_ anything that night.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome put her bag on the ground and walked over to where he sat on the edge of the well. She put her arms around his shoulders and he didn't attempt to shrug them off. He seamed in a different world.

"Did you want to go with me this time?"

He turned to her and gazed in her eyes. He lowered his head and nodded to her.

She nodded and stood up. She had no doubt he was acting this way for the same reason she wanted to get home.

They had jumped into the well together and returned to her time as easily as usual. Before they climbed out, Kagome stopped Inuyasha's arm from reaching to hoist himself up the well wall. He turned and looked into her eyes.

"Yeah, Kagome?"

She looked at her shoes then looked back to him. "I need to go to the drug store for something. It will only take me a minute, but if you could I would like you to go with me. Okay?"

He nodded and said, "Sure. What about my ears?"

She smiled. "I think Sota would lend you a baseball cap."

He did go with her and held her hand protectively all the way there, while they were in the store, and walking the way home. He didn't ask what it was she was buying and she didn't say, and when the cashier took the box and looked at Kagome, she blushed and Inuyasha didn't ask.

So now here she was with the "easy read accurate" one or two strip indicator. One for negative, two for positive.

Inuyasha sat outside of the bathroom door. He didn't know what Kagome was doing in there, but he was pretty sure he knew what she bought. With all the gizmos and gadgets in her time, why wouldn't they have something to tell you if you're going to have a baby?

Oh, hell what was he going to go? He knew it would be his if she was with child, but he didn't even remember how it happened. He just trusted Kagome entirely not to have mated with anyone else. He knew of Kagome's feelings for him and he was sure she knew of his for her, but he didn't know if he could dedicate his heart fully to her with Kikyo alive and suffering out there. He loved Kagome, although he had never admitted it even to himself out loud, but he also felt a duty and love for Kikyo. He could move on better if it weren't for the duty he put upon himself to protect her, but as long as she would live he would never be able to break that completely, and he didn't know if that was fair to Kagome.

He heard a muffled sound from the other side of the door. It was Kagome. She sounded small and hollow. _Oh, kill me now if I am the one who made her sound like that!_

He stood and grabbed the doorknob and shook it. It was locked.

"Kagome! Open the door, please?" He shook it again and she again made that small, faint noise.

The door opened when Inuyasha pulled harder. That second sound was too much. Kagome sat on the closed-lid toilet and held onto the shower curtain for support. Inuyasha rushed over to her and kneeled down to the floor in front of her. In the trashcan was a small box and it's contents. She was breathing harshly and a tear began to fall from her eye.

"What is it, Kagome?" Inuyasha stared wide-eye at her lax and over-whelmed figure.

She gasped and threw herself into his arms. "I'm sorry!" She nuzzled into his shoulder. "I'm so, so sorry, Inuyasha. I didn't mean to…"

Inuyasha closed his eyes and wrapped his arms tighter around her. He knew. She didn't have to say it. He understood these tears.

"I know…I know…" was all he could think to say. He kissed her cheek twice and held onto her tight. "I know…What were you saying when I was outside?"

He heard her sniff and wipe her eyes on his fabric. She cleared her throat and sat back on her heels to look at him. "I said 'two lines…'"

He didn't understand exactly what that meant, but he understood what _she_ meant. He looked at her as she settled herself down and began to sand up. "Careful," he said as he grabbed her arm and helped her up. She glanced up to him and smiled. Then, her face changed and the color drew out of it.

"Are you okay, Kagome?"

She closed her mouth and shook her head as she lifted the toilet cover to relieve her stomach of the noodles she had eaten earlier. Inuyasha stood behind her, holding her sides to steady her. In a free breath she asked him to please hold her hair back. He did, and never stopped holding her until she was done.


	8. Hello Hojo

When the doorbell rang and Kagome answered the door, she never thought she would see Hojo standing there. He stood on her doorstep, smiling at her and holding yet another gift tucked under his arm. _Oh, boy!_ Kagome sighed and presented a smile as she held out her hand in a gesture for Hojo to enter. _What the heck am I supposed to say?_ She felt her stomach slide into her bowls as she shut the door behind her.

"So…ah, Hojo. How's everything going?" She patted the seat of an easy chair for him to sit in and she sat across from him on the couch.

"Great, Kagome. But I was worried about you. I haven't see you out and about too much this vacation." He crossed his legs and passed across the wrapped up box.

"Why thanks. What is it?" She began to unwrap the paper and fiddle with the bow.

"It's a sock warmer." Kagome looked up to him with one eyebrow arched.

"A what?"

Hojo laughed. "A sock warmer. It warms your socks so that you can put on warm socks at night. See, if your feet are warm, then the rest of your body tends to go along with it."

Kagome looked down at the contraption, which looked like a tiny clay oven. "Hojo, you didn't have to…"

Just then, Grandpa, Sota, and a very amused Inuyasha holding a perturbed Buyo upside-down and scratching his tummy entered from a walk to the grocery store. Luckily, Inuyasha was wearing Sota's ball cap and it efficiently covered his dog-ears. When Inuyasha, laughing put Buyo down as he entered into the living room, he stopped in his tracks. He stood, his face changed from amused to curious and cautious as he sighted Hojo sitting comfortably in Kagome's grandfather's easy chair. He took a step forward to stand behind where Kagome sat and put his hand on her shoulder, never taking his eyes off Hojo.

"Inuyasha," Kagome began. "This is a friend of mine from school, Hojo."

She turned to look back at Hojo who still held the content smile. "Hojo, this is Inuyasha. He's…" What was he? Not her boyfriend, not her lover, not her fiancé. She looked up to Inuyasha for an explanation.

Inuyasha seeing Kagome's discomfort, decided not to growl at the boy and pull her into his arms and grab her hindquarters as the monk did to let him know she belonged to him. Instead, he nodded and said, "Hi there, Hojo."

Hojo nodded and smiled wider. "Inuyasha…That is an interesting name." Inuyasha's eyes never fell from Hojo's. "Where did you meet Kagome? Old friend of the family."

Inuyasha smirked. "I guess you could say that. She and I go way back, right Kagome?"

Kagome by this point had covered her eyes and sat giggling. She didn't know why. She should take this more seriously; she was about to tell the guy who had a crush on her that she was no longer available because she was pregnant. Oh, yeah and with a weird-looking guy who comes off as a very possessive person. And by the way, ha-ha I don't know what we are. I don't know if we are lovers, engaged, or just friends who like to get together for a little fun now and then. You know, only when he can't find his dead ex. Yeah great.

"Right, Inuyasha," she managed.

They sat like that for a moment, and then Inuyasha picked Buyo up again and turned toward the kitchen. "Well, I'll be getting something to eat. If you need anything, Kagome, just call."

"Okay." She had stopped the giggling and had actually gone pale now that the moment was upon her.

"Wow!" Hojo beamed. "What is up with his hair? It's like silver or white."

Kagome nodded into her hands. "Yeah, and his eyes are amber-colored."

"Wow. Is he albino or something?" Hojo honestly looked interested, not like he was trying to mock Inuyasha.

Kagome nodded with her eyes shut. "Yes, yes, I supposed that would do."

"Seems like a great guy…" Hojo looked so honest. She had nothing against him, but she had to hurt him.

"Hojo, about that…" She closed her eyes. "About that, Inuyasha isn't just an old friend."

It began to dawn on Hojo what Kagome was about to say and he sat up more in his chair and uncrossed his legs. "Okay…"

Kagome sighed and opened her eyes. "He's actually…Well, it's kinda funny."

"Go ahead, Kagome." Hojo held himself gracefully.

She looked at him and nodded. "I—I—I…" She closed her eyes and shook her head. _Listen girl, you can fight demons, you can purify Shikon Jewel shards, you can put the fear of God into Miroku after one of his little gropes, you can even put up with Inuyasha and Shippo's bickering. But, you can't do this? Come on. _

She opened her eyes and looked straight into his. "Hojo, Inuyasha and I are having a baby."

Hojo's mouth dropped. He had certainly not expected this. Kagome? Pregnant?

Hojo moved his mouth to say something, and then had to try again. "D—did you plan this? I mean are you married? Or eng—"

She shook her head. He couldn't believe it. He never thought Kagome Higurashi could do something so careless.

"How long have you been dating?" Kagome's blush said it all. "You aren't dating!"

Kagome smiled pathetically. "Hojo, I'm sorry if I hurt you."

"Did he pressure you?" It was the only explanation he could think of. "Because if he did, Kagome I swear—" He was interrupted by Kagome's laughter. _Him,_ do something to Inuyasha! Ha!

"I'm sorry Hojo, it's just that—no, he didn't force himself. We both actually don't even remember it happening."

Hojo's eyes widened. "Kagome Higurashi, were you drunk?"

A new storm of laughter filled the room from Kagome. "No…not at all."

"Well, then…I don't understand."

Kagome wiped her eye. "I don't either, but here we are!" She was way to cheerful. She needed to get a grip.

Hojo stared at the girl he thought he knew. She was nothing like he thought she was, modest, humble, not of it showed now.

"I'm sorry Hojo, but I am pregnant with Inuyasha's baby."

"You do realize that you don't _have_ to be with him. People raise babies on their own all the time."

Now it was time for Kagome's mouth to drop. "First off, Inuyasha would want to be a part of our lives. He's not like that. Also, I…think I love him anyway."

Hojo for the first time felt what it was really like to be rejected, and it stung. He knew he didn't love Kagome like she claimed to love this…Inuyasha person, but he did care for her. She was his first real crush, and this was his first real letdown.

"I'm sorry," Kagome took Hojo's hand in hers and he was surprised to see that he didn't pull away.

"It's okay, Higurashi." He was trying to be formal to soften the pain. "Had to happen sometime, I guess." He rubbed is thumb over her wrist. "I guess, I just wasn't prepared for it to be like this." With that, he stood and walked to the door. Kagome followed him and opened it for him.

He turned as he was stepping out and retrieved a white sawn feather from his pocket. "I won't tell…anyone. And if you ever need to talk you know my number." Kagome nodded.

He took her hand and placed the feather in her palm and closed her fingers over it. He smiled, "It's an old Chinese proverb. You've probably heard it before. If you haven't it's not too hard to find."

She looked at the feather. It was soft and clean. "Hojo, where did you get this?"

Hojo shifted and placed his hands in his pockets. "My mom gave it to me when I was little. I try to carry it with me usually." She looked into his eyes. "The feather carries all my good intentions. That is what I have for you, good intentions." He smiled and turned away before Kagome could say anything. He walked away from the Sunset Shrine and didn't look back.


	9. Finally Opening Up

She was not getting the normal symptoms a pregnant teenager should get. Two weeks earlier she took the test, so she knew it was true, but she was acting different from what she always heard she should at a time like this. Her stomach should be feeling tighter and she should be sick. She wasn't throwing up at all, except for the day she found out, and her stomach was not tight. It was bloated. And her skin was blotchy and pale. She was also _loosing_ weight, rather than gaining some. She was beginning to look like a starved puppy with worms. She was bony and unhealthy looking, but with a bloated potbelly. Her doctor thought this was strange too, so she was expected to go in for an early ultrasound today.

Inuyasha had stayed with her in her time and had made a few trips back to his to take Shippo chocolate and convince everyone that Kagome was fine. She just needed some more time with her family at home. He did his at Kagome's request. They slept every night together every night without sex and he too had noticed her health declining. Her eyes looked hollow and her cheeks looked carved out. Her skin had an undertone of purple and she was very tired all the time. He was going with her to her appointment today.

Kagome had put on a pair of sweatpants because that's all that fit her now and an old tee shirt. The pants hung loosely all over but around her waist. Her arms were weak and thin and did not take up anything close to the amount of sleeve room, as they normally would have.

Inuyasha napped on her bed dreaming his same old dream. But now the dream had changed. Now Kagome held their baby in her arms as she tried to free him from Kikyo's spell. In the dream he wanted to eat the baby and Kagome. He felt his pulse and the hot demon blood within him surging for their taste. The baby held out its arms to hug him, and Inuyasha opened his mouth searching for flesh…

He sat bolt upright in Kagome's bed and let out a small cry. Kagome had turned around and hurried to him when she saw his reaction in the mirror.

"What's wrong? What is it?"

He shook his head and looked away. "Nothing, sorry."

"It was that dream again."

He looked up to her. "How do you know about it?"

She smiled kindly. "I sleep by you every night. I notice things like when you jump up in bed."

He looked away again. She sat down next to him and they were both silent for a minute.

"I…" Could he? If he told her it meant he would have no armor. No safety from her.

"Yes, Inuyasha?" Kagome's eyes were warm.

"I…"

She leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"I'll listen, Inuyasha. I'll listen to anything you have to tell me. I know we both don't remember anything from that night but…but obviously we both know what happened."

He grunted and leaned into her as she embraced him.

"I just wanted you to know something. I remember waking up that night and seeing you sleeping next to me and I think that was one of the happiest times of my life."

He turned his face to her slowly.

"I needed you to know that I love you. And, I loved you before this baby, and for a long time before."

"Kagome I—"

"Shhh. Wait a minute okay?" He nodded. "And I understand you still love Kikyo. If you didn't still love her and you were able to erase her just like that, then I probably wouldn't love you as much as I do. Your just too good, Inuyasha. I wanted you to know that I've loved you for a very long time and I know you love Kikyo. I also know that I am not Kikyo and she is not me." Inuyasha nodded. "I do not want you to give everything up for this baby, especially since you didn't really do anything consciously to make it. I want you be able to love Kikyo freely."

He sighed and leaned into her more. "I may not have consciously done anything that night, but that doesn't mean I didn't want to."

She blinked. "Wh-what?"

"I mean yes, I love Kikyo and I want to help her. But even when she was alive she tried to kill me after thinking I betrayed her. You have had many opportunities to do the same, but instead you forgive and forgive. The fact that I love you is the main reason I am staying with you. Not the baby. I just don't know what to do here because your pregnant and I only remember us kissing once. It feels out of order."

"Inu—"

"But, this is how I've been imagining us ending up for a while now, just a different time."

Kagome opened her mouth and had to swallow to say anything. "You were planning…"

"Not really. It was just what I kind of assumed would happen if everything went okay until and after we got all the shards. Hell, I even have thought of becoming human for you."

"Inuyasha I…"

"…But, I remembered what you said to me that day when my human soul was in that mirror and I was changing into a full demon. You said, 'I like you the way you are.' Do you remember that?"

"Yes."

"That is when I started thinking that the way I'm living with myself is not that bad. Not if you're in my life."

They were silent for a moment again, and then Kagome spoke.

"Tell me again, Inuyasha."

"The whole thing?"

She laughed. "No, the part about you loving me."

He pulled her closer and held her. "Kagome, I love you. But let's do this slow okay?"

She nodded and a tear fell from her eye. "I love you, I love you, I love you!"

He laughed quietly and kissed her lightly on the lips.


	10. More News

Kagome's obstetrician decided to conduct the ultrasound herself, rather than having a nurse give her the information second-hand. Dr. Katchi was worried about Kagome. She was indeed not demonstrating the normal signs of pregnancy, but seamed to have more symptoms of someone who swallowed a tapeworm. A home pregnancy test and a hospital blood test did come back positive however, and no tapeworm could do that. Dr. Katchi was worried that Kagome may be pregnant and have something like a tapeworm in her intestines at the same time. Not only would that be detrimental to the baby's health, but it could also affect Kagome's. She had seen people die after a long struggle with a tapeworm when they hadn't had the aid of a medical doctor. If Kagome in fact had a tapeworm or something of that nature, there would be no problem giving her a medication, which would expel it from her body without harming the baby. The real reason Dr. Katchi requested an ultrasound was to make sure the baby was still healthy. She also wanted to be safe rather than sorry. An ultra sound was a good idea with Kagome's condition regardless of her tapeworm theories.

Kagome came in on time, a few minutes early in fact, and was seated in the waiting room when Dr. Katchi came out to escort her to the ultrasound room. Inuyasha was with her. Dr. Katchi noted that he had been to every appointment thus far, whether Kagome asked him to stay in the waiting room (as she did when she had her pelvic exam), or whether he held her hand during a normal check-up. Inuyasha was the father, Kagome and he said, but it was indeed a strange relationship. Just as if they were just beginning to be more than friends.

_Don't be silly,_ Dr. Katchi told herself. _You are a doctor of medicine, not psychology._

Kagome look terrible. She looked even worse than the last time she was in a week ago. Inuyasha also looked strange. Well, he always looked strange what with the old clothes and the white hair and amber eyes, but she had met people in her business that suffered such pigment loss in their hair and eyes. In the case of Inuyasha, she would guess that he had been like that.

But, what she meant when she thought "strange" was really more like the word "broken."

She smiled under her stylish glasses. "Ready Kagome?"

Kagome looked up to her doctor from where she sat holding Inuyasha's hand. She looked worn, tired, and very sickly. She nodded as a soft smile stretched across her face and she stood, Inuyasha following right behind her.

As the three walked down the short hallway to the room, Dr. Katchi asked Kagome a few questions.

"How do you feel compared to last week when I saw you?"

"Crappy."

"Loss of energy?"

"Very much so."

"Moodiness?"

"Not really."

"Vomiting?"

"Nope."

Dr. Katchi tapped her pen on her clipboard. "Are your breasts getting tender? Any change in size, shape, or texture?"

Kagome noticed Inuyasha turn a slight red tone. "No, well…" she leaned in to whisper this to her doctor, but Inuyasha's sensitive ears picked it up easily. "…I think they are getting smaller. Because I am losing weight."

Dr. Katchi nodded and responded, "That's not good. Especially sense your abdomen looks like it has bloated out more, yes?"

"Uh-huh."

They stepped inside the room and Dr. Katchi quietly closed the door. "Now I have one question for Inuyasha. Kagome, please have a seat on the table."

Kagome sat and Inuyasha stared at her wide-eyed. "What?"

"Relax, Inuyasha. I just wanted to know how you are holding up."

He was taken aback. He hadn't really been thinking of himself this past month. "Um…I guess I'm worried about Kagome and the baby. I hadn't really thought of anything else."

Dr. Katchi nodded. "Well, if everything turns out well here today, I want you to do something for yourself. I knew you wouldn't if anything was wrong so I won't ask you that, but do we have a deal?"

Inuyasha looked to Kagome. "I want you to be happy Inuyasha. That's what I've always wanted."

He nodded.

Dr. Katchi smiled and asked Kagome to lie down on the table. Kagome lay back and looked at the ceiling. The cream colors reminded her of old Kaede and what she had taught her. Kaede. Her mentor, confident, and like a second mother (or grandmother, but she just seamed to spunky for that title) must be worried about her. She had often wondered if Kaede aided her because she thought Kagome was Kikyo's reincarnation, but now more than ever she was sure Kaede truly cared for and respected her. Inuyasha had certainly brought back enough herbs from her with directions of how to use them. Kagome wondered if the old priestess knew of her condition even though she had not seen her for nearly two weeks. _Kaede, please take care of Shippo for me. And don't let Miroku cop a feel on Sango._ Kagome smiled to herself. _Well…if he must, just so long as she can whip him for it._ Kagome giggled quietly. She was beginning to sound like Kaede in her warning to no one.

"What's so funny, Kagome?" Dr. Katchi looked down at her with a tube of gel in one hand and the ultrasound wand in the other.

Kagome giggle again. "Oh nothing. Just thinking of a friend."

Inuyasha pulled his chair around to the side of the table opposite from the doctor. Kagome looked up into his amber colored eyes and reached out her hand. "Please?"

Inuyasha looked down and smiled. She felt warmth cover her fingertips and then consume her fist. Tiny points pressed into her skin and she knew he was nervous.

"Ready Mom and Dad?" Inuyasha's head snapped up to the doctor's face when he heard the word "dad." Kagome adjusted herself and pulled her shirt up just below her breasts. She looked up to Inuyasha's face, afraid he just realized he wanted to bale. Instead, what she saw in his eyes was a softness she hand only seen a few times before. This was the first time in four weeks he did not look like he was worried. She said a silent prayer of thanks.

As for Inuyasha, he had never been so nervous and so excited in his life. It just hit him that he was about to see his baby for the first time with this nifty thingy. His baby. Kagome and he made it. This was his family now, and he had been so long without one.

He bent down to Kagome's face and pressed his nose and mouth to her ear. Her eyes widened as he kissed her earlobe and gently whispered, "Kagome, I love you. Thank you for giving me a family."

She felt a tear in her eye and blinked it back. "Thank you, Inuyasha. Thank you for loving me."

"Are we ready now, lovebirds?" Dr. Katchi smiled. Kagome hadn't even noticed her putting the warm gel on her stomach.

Kagome swallowed, suddenly nervous again, and said, "Yes, yes we are."

Inuyasha looked up to the "mon-o-terd" and waited to see his baby.

The monitor flipped on and Inuyasha immediately sat up straight. "Where is it? I can't see it!"

Kagome giggled, her tension broken for momentarily. The screen was bare and showed only a greenish light in the shape of an upside-down fan. "It's okay. The baby is really small and she needs to find it first."

Inuyasha breathed and slumped back in his chair. Kagome's fear was beginning to return. What if the baby wasn't okay? What if it was sick? What if she just couldn't handle carrying Inuyasha's baby? That was ridiculous. Inuyasha himself had a human mother and he was a half demon. This baby would only be a quarter demon. She could kill whole demons for goodness' sake. Of course she could take carrying a quarter demon and give birth to it.

"There it is! There it is!" Inuyasha stood up and pointed to the screen. Kagome turned her head and saw a tiny figure on the monitor. Her baby. This was real. Inuyasha and she were really having—

"—Wait." Kagome rose up on her elbows.

Inuyasha was smiling, fascinated by the image but he managed to give his attention to Kagome. "What?"

Kagome's mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. "That's not my baby!"

"What!" Inuyasha stared disbelieving. Why would she do this? She must be really getting sick.

"It's not our baby." Kagome lowered her head. She was right she was sick and whatever was ailing her must have killed her baby.

"Kagome. What are you saying?" Inuyasha shook his head.

Just then, Dr. Katchi spoke up. "She's right."

"WHAT!" Inuyasha barked. Wide-eyed he stared at the figure on the screen. It wasn't their baby? What the hell was it?

"It's some sort of parasite. You are not pregnant, Kagome. At least not anymore."

Kagome's eyes swelled with tears and she felt her chest hitch. "Was I ever?"

"Well," Dr. Katchi turned off the screen and wiped the gel off Kagome's stomach. "I don't know."

Inuyasha began to growl. "What do you mean 'you don't know'?"

Dr. Katchi regarded him absently. "She has had no symptoms of that except for the tests and the ceasing of her cycle." Inuyasha quit snarling and began to blush. "I've never seen a parasite do that, but then again, I've never seen a parasite like this before. This one is actually attached to her uterus inside of a tiny sack. Like an embryo would be. Her body is acting like it is with child, but if she ever was, we don't know."

Kagome's tears fell slowly but constantly over her cheeks as she sat up on the table. Inuyasha's ears drooped back on his head under the baseball cap Sota had lent him. _No baby? But…_

"I'm sorry."

…_my family..._

"We can give her medicine that will make her expel the parasite from her body…"

…_my Kagome…_

"…she will be able to regain her strength after that."

_Does this mean…_

"Inuyasha?" Kagome's small sad voice shattered Inuyasha's thoughts. "Help me down, please."

He realized she was having trouble lowering herself from the table to stand. He wrapped his arm around her and supported her weight until she was able to hold herself.

Dr. Katchi sighed. "I want to have your blood tested again to see if this is what caused it to show up positive. Because if it is…well, Kagome you are living medical history." She noticed that Kagome was not very interested in being "living medical history." She cleared her throat and continued. "I'll write you a prescription. You can stay in here until I get back. It'll give you a little privacy." She began to walk out the door with her clipboard when she stopped and hugged Kagome. "I _am_ sorry. I really am."

Kagome managed a strangled "thank you" before her doctor left. Inuyasha stood against the wall in a dark corner, with his bangs hiding his eyes. She saw him clutching his fists, pulsing his grip in and out, in and out.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome wiped her eyes. "Inuyasha?"

She heard a low rumble from his chest.

"Inuyasha, please talk to me."

He lifted his head and she saw his eyes were deep and foggy. He was snarling.

"Inuyasha, please don't…"

"I don't get it." He growled under his breath. "I just don't get it."

Kagome sniffed and reached her hand out into the dark for him to find. "Get what?"

She heard the growl increase. "I…don't…get…why this always happens."

She blinked. "What?"

Suddenly he ripped out his hand from his side and slashed the drywall to the left of him.

Kagome trembled. "Inuyasha, please don't."

"WHY!" He roared. "Kagome, why!" He stepped closer. "Why do I fail every time I try to do something for us?" He roared again and threw over the chair he had been sitting in not two minutes before.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome was becoming scared. "Don't make me say it!"

He couldn't hear her. "Why didn't this work?" He spoke calmly as he approached her. "Why?"

Kagome opened her mouth to scream, "SIT" but she couldn't. The air did not pass her throat. She couldn't do it. Not when he was in this pain.

He reached out for her and grabbed her wrist. Again, Kagome mouthed the word, but it couldn't be freed. She closed her eyes and froze all over awaiting a blow. She never thought Inuyasha would be capable of striking her, but maybe she had been wrong.

She braced herself for a large blow. She felt herself being pulled forward and…into his arms. Kagome opened her eyes and found she was looking over Inuyasha's shoulder. He was holding her! He was holding her and embracing her as tightly as he could without hurting her. She was even a few inches off the ground, her legs just dangling in mid-air. She felt his cheek press against hers and she thought she felt one tear fall. Inuyasha's tear.

He breathed in and shuddered against her chest. "Please don't leave me. Please…" he quietly begged. She felt him stroking her hair desperately, but he kept his word s calm. "I'm sorry. I promise I'll do better next time. I'll protect you better and I'll give you a baby if you want one, just please don't leave me."

Another tear graced her cheek and contoured her chin. She moved her lips to barely touch his jaw, but he turned his head to receive her on the mouth. His kiss was nervous and forceful, but appreciated.

"I'm sorry," his lips barely moved against the pressure of hers. "I still love you. I don't want to loose you." His last words came out very softly.

Kagome wrapped her arms around him and squeezed herself into him. She pulled away and whispered in his ear. "You won't. I'm your family now."


	11. Shower Sports

A/N: Ha-ha! See! I didn't go off on a tangent when I wrote the thing about the lizard. It means more than you will ever know...whistles Well, that's not really accurate because you are reading about it now right?

I have not made any author notes in this story so I'd like to thanks all of you for reading and reviewing...It means the world to me. Thank you so much...

P.S. Check out my story "Chinese Swan Feather" to learn more about the proverb Hojo uses in chapter 8.

Well, enjoy!

* * *

"What do you mean it 'might not work'?" Inuyasha had asked irritated. 

"What I mean is," Dr. Katchi held up the bottle of Kagome's pills in her hand, shook them, and continued, "that these are for parasites in the stomach and intestines. Those are the only kind of internal parasites like this we have ever found. These pills sometimes kill the bug, but most of the time they just expel it from one's body."

Inuyasha crossed his arms. "So? Why wouldn't it work for this one?" He was getting confused. Intestines? What were those? He had figured out what a uterus was but this was something he couldn't get.

"Inuyasha, I don't know who taught your elementary health class but let me give a short lesson." She pointed to a poster of the digestive system. "This is what everyone has inside of them to help them eat. This tube is where the food is swallowed. This tube is where it goes out. Got that?"

Inuyasha was not in the mood for jokes. "Yeah…"

"This pouch right here is your stomach. These long things that look like noodles are your intestines. See how they lead to the tube that gets rid of the food?" Inuyasha nodded. "That is where most parasites are. They can be expelled through this tube," she motioned upward to the throat, "and this tube," she pointed to the lower one. "But…" she rolled her chair over to another poster. "This is where it is in Kagome." She pointed to the uterus on the female in the reproductive system poster. "The medicine I gave her only guarantees that she will throw up and…get rid of it down here." She pointed back to the lower tube in the digestive poster. "It might kill it, which is what I am hoping for."

Inuyasha huffed. "And if it doesn't?"

Dr. Katchi sighed. "Then we will do the same procedure we do to give someone an abortion. That I'm sure will work."

Kagome had been silent throughout this entire conversation. She for one had a good health teacher. But she now had a question.

"Why not just do that? Instead of making me miserable for a week."

Dr. Katchi rolled her chair back to her desk. "Kagome, if I do that your chances for getting pregnant in the future will go down."

"What?" Kagome sat up straight in her chair.

Inuyasha tightened his jaw.

"When ever a woman has an abortion, her chances for getting pregnant again go down depending on whether the lining scars or whether her cervix closes back off correctly. With the parasite, it is likely for scaring to occur. I didn't want to risk that with you if it was possible."

Kagome's mouth hung slightly open. "Oh," she said.

So now here she was crouched over the toilet bowl again puking her guts up. Inuyasha stood behind her and rubbed her back. Hacking up the last of her lunch, Kagome wondered if this was working, and if it was even worth it. _Just let it kill me,_ she thought as she slumped back onto her butt and leaned back on the floor to rest against the bathtub. Her head bobbed back and she cared nothing for the first signs of back neck pain. How she wanted a shower! She was wearing the tank top and pajama shorts she had been wearing the past few days, and she decided it would be too much trouble to take them off in her condition. So, she scooted herself up to sit on the rim of the tub and rolled in fully clothed.

"Kagome, what—" Inuyasha reached for her hand to help her out.

"No," she croaked. "I need a bath. I'm disgusting."

"Well you can't bathe with your clothes on."

"Yes I can."

"Well, you're not gonna."

"Yes I am."

"No you're not!"

She hacked. "Yes I am! What are you going to do? Strip me?"

"You're feeling better." He grumbled. "I'm going to get your mom."

"Sit, boy." Inuyasha effectively crashed into the toilet bowl and onto the ground. Kagome managed a tiny laugh.

"Why'd ya do that?!?" Inuyasha growled into the tile floor.

Kagome felt a little bit better. "Because I said 'no.'"

"This…is so gross," Inuyasha propped himself up and Kagome realized when she sat him, he hit the bowl and his hair had flopped into her vomit. She started laughing so hard she was afraid she would make herself puke again.

"Oh you think this is funny?" Inuyasha stood and his puke-covered hair flopped to the side and his bangs stood up in places. This made Kagome laugh even harder.

"You _do_ think this is funny!" An evil glint reflected in his eye and his impish smile exposed his menacing fangs. He jumped into the tub and pinned Kagome down as he crouched on all fours over her. "Let's see if you like this as much as you did that!" With that he shook himself all over and splashed vomit all over Kagome.

"EEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEE!" Kagome reached for her showerhead but Inuyasha stopped her. He picked it up off its cradle.

"Is this what you wanted?" Inuyasha's face was covered in Kagome's excrements and he aimed the showerhead at her face. "Hmmm…how _does_ this thing work?"

Kagome let out a shriek and coward below him. She couldn't do anything, she was too sick to move. Inuyasha fiddled with the showerhead and hit it a few times. Finally accepting that wouldn't work he began searching else ware in the shower.

"Oh there it is…" Inuyasha laughed as he lifted the shower handle. Water spurted out of the showerhead at fantastic speeds as it soaked Kagome.

"Ah! Cold!" In his search, Inuyasha had left Kagome alone, and in that blast of cold water, her body forgot its ailment for a moment and she managed to grab the weapon from him.

"Ah-ha!" she roared and stood up next to him.

Sputtering with the cold water in his face, Inuyasha slipped and fell backward onto the floor of the tub. To take advantage of the situation, Kagome leaned forward and turned the shower to a warmer temperature. She then turned the spray onto herself and rinsed the vomit off of her. Inuyasha stood and Kagome blasted him again with the water, cleaning him in the process.

She was laughing non-stop and Inuyasha was also laughing, although he tried to hide it with growling noises. Kagome slipped the showerhead back into its cradle and stepped under the stream to continue rinsing.

Inuyasha stopped and stared at her. She was beautiful. Even with her lost weight and her stomach still bloated she was lovely. She stood under the running water with her eyes closed and ran her hands through her hair. Her clothes stuck to her skin and tiny droplets slipped from her eyelashes and lips. Inuyasha wanted to touch her. He stepped closer to her and stopped himself. No, she was sick. He would hurt her. _That's not the real reason why is it? _He tightened his jaw and closed his eyes. _Why do I have to hold back?_

Kagome opened her eyes and saw Inuyasha's closed. He looked really pissed. Did she do that? She felt the medication taking her over again and she was forced to sit down in the tub. She felt shaky and weak once again She hated feeling like this, but who ever _did_ like being sick? Shivering, she scooted completely under the warm shower and hugged herself. Inuyasha stood behind her and she leaned against his soaked haori pants.

Opening his eyes, Inuyasha saw the top of Kagome's head against his thigh. He bent down and pulled her back into the cradle of his chest. She was cold and shivering. His hands instinctively reached for her tank top and began to pull upward to relieve Kagome of the cold, wet clothing. At the sound of Kagome's gasp, he stopped his hands where they were and released her shirt.

"Sorry. Natural for me to do that, I guess."

Kagome let out a faint huff. "Is it really that natural for you to undress me?"

He shook his head in annoyance. "No stupid. It's natural for me to take cold, wet clothing off of someone if they are shivering."

Kagome leaned her head back so that she was looking at Inuyasha upside-down. "At this point, I wouldn't even care if you did that, really."

Inuyasha's eyes widened and he restrained himself from gasping. So, he coughed instead.

"I was kidding, Inuyasha," Kagome insisted. "Pervert."

"Now wait a minute!" Inuyasha turned her around to face him. "You are the one who—"

"Kagome!" It was Kagome's grandfather calling upstairs. "You have a phone call!"

Kagome sighed. "Who is it, Grandpa?"

"Dr. Katchi. About your tests." Kagome grunted and attempted to stand.

Inuyasha leaned down to her and stopped her. "No wait here and finish your bathing. I'll talk to your doctor, you can't get up and walk downstairs anyway." Kagome nodded and Inuyasha stepped out of the tub.

"Can you come down, child? Or do you want to call her back?"

"Inuyasha will take it," Kagome called down and then lay back in the tub.

"Alright demon, get on down here now. No sense in making her wait."

Inuyasha grabbed a towel from the rack that Kagome pointed to and ran it over his hair and haori. "Yeah, yeah. Coming old man."

Kagome sighed as she heard Inuyasha close the bathroom door and Grandpa say something about respecting elders. All in all her family had handled the situation with Inuyasha very well. Everyone liked him and the only qualm her grandfather had with him was that he did have demon blood running through his veins. But he had come to think that a half-demon would be better than a human to be Kagome's protector, since she indeed was "destined for great things." Her mother also like Inuyasha and believed Kagome when she said she remembered nothing of that night.

"Do you love him, Kagome?"

"What?" She was startled by the question just being asked out of the blue. They had been cooking together while Sota and Inuyasha played with Buyo, and Grandpa prayed for guidance when her mother just asked her.

Her mother put down a knife she was using to cut butterfly fish and turned to her daughter. "Do you love him?"

Kagome looked down at the dumplings she was preparing. "I guess I have for a long time now."

Her mother nodded and turned back to her cooking. "I thought this much."

"But it's strange."

"All love is, Kagome."

"No I mean…" Kagome sighed. She put down the dough and leaned against the counter. "I mean it doesn't feel like we are lovers. I never had that transition, because I don't remember any of it and we haven't…acted like lovers either."

"I also noticed that."

"Well, what should I do? I do love him…even though some would say I am too young for love."

"You are mature enough to know if you are in love, Kagome. I've never worried about you in that way."

"Well, yeah, but I still think I am a little to young for a family and a steady husband—err whatever Inuyasha is. I can do it, I'm not saying I am too young to _do_ it, but I think I was just expecting more time to let myself be a kid. You know?"

"Yes I do, and I agree with you on that. Especially since you don't even remember anything about it. Like you said, you didn't have any transition."

Kagome turned back to her dumplings. "If I had been in a relationship with him longer, I'd marry him. If he'd have me that is…"

"Oh, honey I wouldn't worry about that too much. He seems pretty enamored with you."

"Really?" Kagome stood still for a moment. "I've always gotten the impression that he cared for me. Maybe even loved me, but I know he still loves Kikyo."

Her mother put the knife down again. "The girl you've told me about? The one who bound him to the tree?" Kagome nodded. "Well, dear, it seems from what you've told me that he indeed does, but that doesn't mean he can ever be happy with her. She seems to seek out harming him and a relationship like that is only trouble from the start, no matter how much you love the other person. I am also not saying it is Kikyo's fault. From what you've told me it's not, but whether her fault or not it is still harmful to Inuyasha, you, and maybe even herself. " Kagome remained silent. "What you need to understand is that if he truly loved her, he will never stop loving her, but that also does not mean he cannot love you. You may have to share his heart, Kagome, but a heart does not have physical boundaries. Even while loving her, he can love you with his whole heart. It's hard for me to explain because we don't have enough words about non-physical things that can make much sense to us, but I have seen it in mylife and I know it is real."

Kagome watched as a tear fell into the dough she was kneading. She vaguely wondered if Inuyasha would be able to taste the extra salt. Kagome's eyes widened for a moment as she felt her mother's arms around her in a hug. She leaned into it and closed her eyes.

"Thanks Mom. I love you too."

That conversation had happened only a few days before Inuyasha had told her he loved her.

_He loved her!_ She still couldn't believe it. Even now after hearing it, they still acted more like friends and she was comfortable with that. She was happy.

Kagome looked down at herself. She might as well take these clothes off after all and get a real shower, especially incase she might see her doctor today. Crossing her arms, she lifted her top over her head and threw it into the bathroom floor. She stretched out her legs and pulled her shorts and underwear off quickly. It was sad how much labor it took just to get herself undressed. Remembering her shower curtain was still open, she pulled it over and reached for her shampoo. In the back of her mind she remembered it was about time for the new moon.


	12. Free to Choose

Inuyasha sat on Kagome's bed deep in thought. He wasn't bound to being with Kagome anymore. She was never pregnant and they had never mated. The parasite was doing this, it was making her show signs of being with child. They could go back to being what they were, friends.

_Do you really want that?_

I don't know.

_Nah, you laid down with her that night before all of this…because you wanted to._

It was too soon. She doesn't need the burden of being my mate. Not with Naraku to defeat and shards to find.

_She doesn't need to be mated to you. You know that._

But then she isn't mine.

_Stupid, Kagome is only yours if she wants to be. Mated or not. _

It was his human urges. His human side could feel content just being her "boyfriend," as she called it. She didn't have to be proclaimed as his.

He closed his eyes and remembered back to that night. Kagome…moonlight.

…_a soft glow fading over her neck and shoulders…_

Yes, Kagome. In the moonlight. She had been so beautiful sleeping in the moonlight. He crept down to her and…slept behind her? No! He tried that but…

…_our breaths intermingled…we held each other…_

No, that night he didn't search for a union. He only wanted her company—needed it.

So he could choose. He could be Kagome's boyfriend and be happy for a time. He had not lied to Kagome when he told her that he always assumed he would end up with her, but now was not the right time. But, maybe this could work. Maybe he would ask her to be his "girlfriend." That is what he would be happy with, and she could still say no later if it didn't work for her, though he was pretty sure it would work for him. Could he ask her though? Even with his half human blood, his demon spirit denied the option. _Once she is yours, she needs to be yours for good._ He knew that wasn't true. He couldn't bind Kagome. That was one of the reason's he loved her.

Tonight was the new moon and he wondered if he could have a better chance of asking her while he was all human. He hoped so.

Cleaner and feeling a great deal better, Kagome wrapped a towel around her body. It was a joke though; she would only feel better until she took her evening pill, which would bee soon. _Oh well,_ she thought._Enjoy it while you can._

Kagome opened door and watched steam leek into the hall. She took a step into the cool air and fell to the floor, hitting her head. Gray light filled her vision and then darkness followed.


	13. Blood Loss

A/N: Okay, I wanted you all to know that it may take me a little longer to get the next chapter up because it is a rough, but necessary part. I think I have been pretty good about updating, and rest assured that I am going to have another chapter up soon! Incase there is anyone out there who will die without it, breathe deeply and maybe visit some of my one-shots. Thank you all for having so much interest in "Dreams." I do know where I am going with this now, and I do know how it is going to end, so it shouldn't take too long once I get rolling again. Thanks again to all my loyal readers and reviewers!

P.S. This chapter has a few minor references to menstruation. If you have a problem with that, then I am sorry, but it necessary and this story is rated PG-13 for mature situations.

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Inuyasha had fallen asleep on her bed and had his dream again. He wanted to taste her blood—Kagome's—again. She didn't hold a baby this time but the essence was he same. He wanted to rip into her throat and eat her flesh, as he always did in the dream. Her blood, he could smell it pulsing in her body. It was so real; he vaguely recognized his mouth salivating. The sent was so close and so strong. Why could he smell her blood so well? Did she already have an open wound on her body? He opened his mouth as she pulled the arrow. _NO! Kagome please don't!_

He sat up in bed sweating. That one was bad. He could smell her blood as if—wait. He could smell it now. It was her blood, but there was something else mixed with it.

He stood and sniffed at the air. It was coming from the hall. He sniffed again, and then crinkled his nose in surprise. Heat blood? He sniffed again. Yes, it was just like she smelled before she started her monthly cycle. Did that mean the parasite was gone? He sniffed. There was too much normal blood mixed in with it for him to feel safe.

He pushed open Kagome's door and glanced up the length of the hallway. He hadn't expected Kagome to actually be in the hall, he thought the smell came from the bathroom. But she lay on the floor of the hall, unmoving.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha jumped a little and ran to her. She was face-down and covered gingerly by a bath towel. Around her head was a small pool of blood from hitting her head in her fall. Had she tripped? Inuyasha knelt down and rolled her over, barely noticing her bare skin as the towel fell away. He held her up and examined her wound. It was pretty much done bleeding and it wasn't a large bump. She even stirred in his arms as he shifted her, which eased him. But the other smell…

He felt dirty but he glanced down to the towel that had been wrapped around her. It indeed retained a slight spot of red from Kagome's cycle. He picked up the towel and Kagome and carried her to her room. He laid her on the bed and wrapped her in blankets after cleaning her head wound. It was right at her hairline, which she would complain about because she just washed her hair. He also tucked the bath towel under her lower half to catch any leeks. Becoming very much aware of her nudity, he became flushed and decided that since he was already dirty; after he told the grandfather of Kaogme's fall he too would take a shower.

In the shower, Inuyasha had difficulty with the temperature of the water. First it was scalding, then when he turned the knob, it became too cold. Finally he broke down and yelled for Kagome's little brother, Sota, to get in there and help him with the damn thing. Sota was happy to oblige, as he had been shopping most of day with his mother and had not had the interaction with another male other than his grandfather that was so necessary for a boy of his age. Besides the fact that Inuyasha was his hero, he was willing to help him in anyway possible.

"I'm going to take your clothes down for Mom to wash. They really smell bad." Sota spoke to Inuyasha through the shower curtain.

"And what am I supposed to wear? When I get out of this death trap?" Inuyasha grumbled.

Sota thought to himself and said, "You can wear Mom's bathrobe for a while. It's just like a kimono!" He called as he ran out the door.

"Wait!" Inuyasha called but it was no use. The little twerp took his clothes and now he was going to have to wear a woman's "robe." Great.


	14. Sunset Practice

A/N: Okay now we are rolling! LOL. I know exactly where I am going now and it may take a while to get there. But hey, it should be fun. Thanks to all my readers for reviewing and making me want to post this chapter A.S.A.P. Thanks for the patience as well. Okay well enjoy and I swear I will have another longer chapter up soon. ;)

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Kagome awakened to the sound of Inuyasha screaming at Sota.

"I am gonna have to wear _that_? No way!"

"Come on, Inuyasha. It's just for a little while!"

She heard him grumbling as she sat up in bed. She realized she was dressed in another pair of pajama shorts and a tank top. She also noticed that on her pillow, beside the indentation from her head was an ice pack. Had Inuyasha dressed her? She went pale as she thought of it. She also noticed as she sat up farther that she had a sanitary pad on too. Nope, Mom came to the rescue.

She rubbed her head where it hurt and felt a lump. She shut her eyes and gritted her teeth. If she didn't already look terrible, now she was going to have a lump the size of Mount Everest on her face.

"Kagome?" Her mom had walked into her room with her pill and a glass of water. "I didn't think you'd want anything to eat, seeing as you'll probably lose it all in just an hour."

Kagome leaned against her headboard. "Thanks, Mom."

She handed the cup and capsule to Kagome and sat on the edge of her bed and she took it and drank the water. She brushed a strand of hair out of her daughter's face and kissed her on the forehead. Kagome set the glass down on her bedside table and leaned further back in bed.

"Do you think it's a good sign? The spotting?"

Kagome shook her head, "No clue."

Her mother nodded and picked up the empty glass. "I'm going to give Dr. Katchi a call, okay? How do you feel other than your bump and the effects of the pill?"

Kagome thought and did a systematic mental check of her body. "Fine, I actually felt pretty good when I came out of the shower."

Her mother stood. "Did you trip? Did you faint?"

Kagome shook her head. "I don't think I tripped, but I didn't feel woozy until after I hit my head."

She nodded. "I suppose you just lost your balance a fell then?"

"Probably."

"Well, I'll tell the doctor about that too and I'll come back after."

"Okay Mom."

Her mother left the room with the glass and Kagome lay back on the bed, waiting for the pill to kick in. A moment later Inuyasha was pushed through the door by Sota, wearing a pink floral bathrobe.

"Show Sis. Hey Kagome!" Sota called from the other end of her room.

"Shut up you little…" Inuyasha cut himself off when he saw Kagome was awake and laughing at his attire. "Okay, I didn't want to wear this okay? _He­ _put me in this thing!" Inuyasha picked Sota up and pushed his nose against his. Sota laughed while Inuyasha growled. Kagome laughed even harder seeing those two together like that with such different reactions.

Sota squirmed out of Inuyasha's grip while laughing and ran out of the room shutting the door behind him. Kagome breathed in and calmed herself as Inuyasha walked over to her side. He sat down next to her like her mother had before, and placed his hand on her cheek. His touch was cool and gentle and she soon found herself leaning into it with her eyes closed.

"You're kind of warm, Kagome." She opened her eyes to Inuyasha's concerned expression.

Pushing her back further up on her pillows, she reached her hand out to run her fingers across the fabric of the robe. She giggled. "Yeah, well you look pretty."

He dropped his hand to his lap and his expression changed to his normal annoyance. "Keh, well it wasn't my first choice. But _you_ made my clothes stink." He cocked his head to the side, squinted, and spoke in a higher pitched nasal sound. "Miss Sit, sit sit."

"You sound like you are tempting me, Inuyasha." Kagome raised an eyebrow to the boy.

"Keh," he crossed his arms over his chest. _Did he look nervous?_ Kagome wondered. _He has never been afraid of "sit" before. _

Kagome lifted her arm and placed her palm over Inuyasha's hand that rested in his lap. His eyes widened slightly and then his expression softened. His eyes began to look more golden and sparkled in the light of the evening sunshine fading through Kagome's window. She loved it when he looked at her like this. At peace. She had always heard that the guy you loved would send electricity down your spine, and she had always read that his eyes would make you shiver and your stomach stir. Inuyasha did make her feel like that sometimes, but on the more rare occasions like this he would make her warm and relaxed. She felt safe and cared for when he looked upon her in this manner, and she preferred this feeling to the shocking and chilling one always described to her. Did that mean she had no sexual drive?

_Good grief,_ she thought,_ why in the world would that cross your mind at a time like this?_

"Kagome…" Inuyasha squeezed her hand. "Did you remember what tonight was?"

Kagome glanced at her calendar hanging on the wall. "Oh yeah." she sat up. "The new moon is tonight." Her eyes traveled back to his gaze.

He nodded and continued to watch her solemnly. Tonight he might be able to put his pride aside for a moment to ask her to be his girlfriend. When he said the word aloud earlier, a bitter taste filled his mouth. That word meant that she could back out of it anytime, that she wasn't bound to him. But now as he thought about it, he wondered if his opinion had changed again. He wanted to say it, just to see if it tasted bad on his tong. He stood, leaving Kagome leaning back on her pillows, and walked to her window. Opening it, he slipped past the double panels and stepped soundlessly out into the balcony.

The air was clean. He had spent very little time outside recently and he remembered how much it used to be a part of him. No matter, soon he would be outside in the forest again all the time. This time though, Kagome would be with him.

Kagome sat on her bed confused. Did she say something wrong? She knew Inuyasha was sensitive about his condition during the new moon, but she didn't think she had offended him. He just got up and left, without a word. Kagome grasped her sheet in thought, then sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

Peeking out the window to where Inuyasha leaned on the rail, Kagome noticed the sun setting and Inuyasha's hair darkening. His back was to her and she decided to leave him to his thoughts…while watching him just to make sure he was okay. Her mother's robe Inuyasha wore fluttered in the slight breeze. His hair continued to darken as she watched him smell the night air and his ears receded into normal human ears. She finally decided that she wanted to lie down again because her pill was starting to affect her. Turning around to walk back to her bed, she stopped. _What was that?_ She moved her ear in the boy's direction to pick up the words she _thought_ he said, but was _sure_ he hadn't. _Please,_ she thought, _please repeat it._

Inuyasha sighed and bent down onto his elbows resting on the rail. "Okay, you can do this…"

Kagome squinted. "Do what?" she whispered knowing that with his human ears he wouldn't hear her.

Inuyasha stood up straight and leaned on his left leg as he ran a clawless hand through his black bangs. He stood straight and planted his feet on the ground as if waiting for a pretend confrontation. Kagome breathed. _What is it, Inuyasha?_

"Kagome…" She was sure he must know she was there somehow and jumped a bit at the sound of her name. She was ready to run away.

"Kagome," he repeated his practice proposal. "Would you be my girlfriend?"


	15. Taking the Plunge

A/N: Okay, I know I promissed to get a longer chapter up soon and I am still planning that, but until then I thought I would tide the faithful readers over with this fluffy. Hehe. I have already started the next chapter.

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"Inuyasha…" Kagome whispered into the night air. He remained standing where he was for a moment, then slumped his weigh back onto the rail. Kagome could hardly believe what she heard. Did he actually say "girlfriend"? Did he actually want her that way?

"Stupid." She turned her ear to the sound of his muttering. Was he changing his mind?

Inuyasha cleared his throat, stood up again, and resumed his stance as before. Kagome couldn't fathom what he was doing. Was he…practicing? Kagome felt her hand reach her lips as she watched him.

Inuyasha cleared his throat again. "Kagome, I've been thinking. We should try that dating thing you talk about." Inuyasha groaned and shook his head. "Damn it, I just can't say what I want to."

_Inuyasha…_Kagome stepped back out of the line of vision. _Inuyasha, yes yes yes! Please ask me. Just ask me you dumb dog! _Kagome grinned despite herself. Inuyasha was practicing asking her out, what could she _not_ smile about? She crept slowly back to her bed so he wouldn't know she had overheard him and tucked herself back in once she was there.

_Inuyasha,_ she thought. _Just get your butt in here and ask me before I explode!_

Standing in the darkness of the moonless night, Inuyasha thought about what he was about to do. He had basically decided that if he was going to do this, he had better do it now while he had the courage. It didn't matter what he practiced because he would mess it up somehow and he didn't think Kagome would really care about how he asked her. Damn it, if only he could guarantee that she couldn't say no and that she would stay his. That way, he wouldn't have to worry about idiots like Hojo or Kouga.

"Kagome," he gritted his teeth. "I'm doing this."


	16. Snake Eyes

A/N: Remember that roll I said I was waiting for? Well I'm on it now.

Kisses and thanks to all my reviewers and fans!

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Her body was still when he entered the room.

"She must have fallen asleep," he reasoned out loud. She lay on her side, curled with the covers floating around her. He had often seen her like that recently after a fitful dream. She looked peaceful now. Her dark lashes rested on her cheeks, fluttering every now and then with her breathing, with her hand placed lightly on her pillow. With her legs curled under her, she looked as much like a child as he ever saw and it made him affirm that it was the right thing to ask to be her boyfriend. The only reason he wanted to have anymore right now was to tie her down to keep her with him. He didn't want that. He genuinely wanted to keep a life without him available to her, if for no other reason then to keep her freedom preserved.

She was turned away from him on her side facing the wall. Inuyasha slipped under the covers beside her and wrapped his front to her back. Embracing her from behind, he smoothed her hair away from her ear and rested his lips just behind it.

"Kagome?" He whispered. "Kagome? Do you love me?" She had told him before, but he wanted reinforcement.

Kagome mumbled something incoherent and moved her arm backward so her hand was resting on his leg. Inuyasha jumped slightly at the position of her hand, but then calmed as he saw that she was still sleeping. Leaning in closer, he tried again.

"Kagome," he stated a bit louder.

Kagome rolled a little toward the sound of his voice and whispered "…Inuyasha."

_Good, she's awake._ He leaned even closer to her ear, to make sure she heard his question. "Kagome please, would you be my girlfriend?"

For a moment he lay in fear that she didn't hear him and that he wouldn't be able to ask again, then he felt the warmth on his thigh change position.

"Kagome!" He half whispered, half yelped in surprised. He pulled away and looked between Kagome and he to see her hand only an eyelash's length away from his crotch. "Kagome, what the hell are you doing?"

In one fluid, swift motion, she rolled over onto her opposite side to face him. Her eyes were still closed and he could see them moving furiously under the cover of her lids. Her soft lips stretched into a open-mouthed smile and she gripped his crotch before he could pull away.

"Damn it, Kagome that hurts!" Inuyasha felt scared. Sure he had entertained thoughts of Kagome and he together, but not now, and the way she was capturing him (literally) was just disturbing. Her grasp on him became _hard_ and extremely forceful as she twisted her wrist in a manor specifically to inflict pain.

Hissing in breath, Inuyasha threw his head back against Kagome's pillow and clamped his hand over her wrist. He didn't want to, but he felt his nails sinking in the back of her hand in a desperate attempt to regain control of the situation. Even in every instance in which she sat him before, she never had this complete control over his reactions. She also never sat him to inflict _real_ pain.

"Kagome…" he felt a growl rise in his throat. "Kagome, if you don't stop…" but he couldn't even bring himself to threaten false violence on her. He could never hurt her, especially tonight when he hadn't even the possibility of changing into his demon form. A twinge went through him even at the thought of that reminding him of his nightmare.

He felt an enormous relief on his genitals as Kagome released him, then a sudden light pressure on his chest as she rolled onto him. He hair fell into his face and her tong invaded his mouth in an instant. No reaction came to him and he just stayed still as she rubbed her tong along his bottom lip. Kagome leaned up slightly and snaked her tong back through her lips, revealing slightly pointed teeth. _Pointed teeth!_ Inuyasha blinked in shock as she snapped her mouth shut.

"Kagome?" Could he say nothing else? He inwardly cursed himself.

"Inuyasha." Her cheek pressed against his as she bent to whisper in his ear. "Make love to me." Her words came out in smooth, sultry sounds that reminded him of the same motion her tong took on before. Like a snake. Or a lizard.

He shook his head. "Kagome!"

"Shhhhh…Just come into me, I'll do everything else. You won't need to move a muscle."

Inuyasha couldn't believe what he heard. "Kagome…" he grasp her head in his hands. "You don't need to be with child for me to want you."

"Please…"

He stared at her face in shock. She was totally serious and he could only lay dumbfounded. "Kagome, no." He placed his hands on her shoulders and gently, but firmly, pushed her off of him and left the bed. Once he was across the room and out of reach, he let himself relax enough to lean against the wall and rub his still sore crotch. _Damn,_ he thought. _That really hurt!_

"Inuyasha…" Kagome slid to the edge of the bed and propped her head up on her hand resting on her elbow. "I am fertile. That blood," she gazed at him with her half-open eyes and continued, "wasn't my menstruation." Inuyasha felt blush creep up his neck to his face. "That was me, just me getting ready for you." She sighed and sat up with her legs hanging over the side of the bed. "I mean, I was getting rid of that horrible parasite thing, so we could have that baby together." Her hand reached up to her shoulder and carefully slid down the strap of her tank, revealing bare skin.

Despite his previous pain from this girl, Inuyasha felt his groin stir for her.

"Oh come on, Inuyasha. I can see you want to. You've wanted to make me yours for a while now and I am giving you the chance." Inuyasha suddenly realized that Kagome sat topless in front of him, inticing him to make her his mate. He licked his lips and closed his eyes to gain control. When he opened them, she stood next to the bed, topless with her shorts at her ankles. The only covering she sported was her crisp white underwear.

"Inuyasha…" her voice came out in that same slithering sound as before. "Don't you want that familily? The one you thought you'd lost."

That is what broke the spell. Inuyasha felt a stab at his heart at the reconguring of his loss. Kagome would know that pain would come when she said that. Kagome would never have said that.

He lowered his head and closed his eyes. He felt a prick at the corner of his eye, recognizing it as a tear trying to be born. He breathed in through clenched teeth and his hand formed into a fist as he raised his head.

"Okay Kagome, you win."

A smile passed over Kagome's features as Inuyasha stepped forward and took her in his arms. The feel of her naked breast against the satin fabric he wore did not excite him. Instead, he closed his eyes in disgust. He wasn't holding Kagome, but the beast that was in her body. That damn parasite.

"Sorry, Kagome…" In a flash, he reached her neck and threw her body down to the bed. Straddling her and grasping her neck he bared his human teeth. "Sorry if you can feel this."

The thing under him squirmed at his attack and Inuyasha was careful not to cut off all of Kagome's air supply. For the first time, the thing opened Kagome's eyes fully and revealed a slit-like pupil. Kagome's mouth opened and the pointed teeth he noticed before snapped at his close face.

"No," he stated calmly. "Leave right now, or I kill you with Kagome." He hoped the lie wouldn't show on his face.

The beast beneath him widened its eyes and Inuyasha thought he saw the pupil also expand slightly. Kagome's mouth slammed shut and her body relaxed under his weight. The beast's eyes closed and it fell silently into a sleep-like state.

Inuyasha held the thing down for a moment before realizing his hands were putting most of his weight on Kagome's throat. Standing up, he backed against the wall, horrified that he may have killed her.

He slumped to the floor against the opposite wall, and hung his head between his legs.

That was when Kagome lunged.


	17. Back Through the Well

A/N: Hey guys, sorry this chapter took me a while to get up. My phone lines are screwed up and so my old internet connection keeps pooping out on me. Yesterday I managed to upload this chapter, but the net shut off just as I was starting my A/N. So, yeah the storms in my areahave been harsh. But, now my college is open and so I am using it to post this. YAY! Any way, enjoy and I will have another chapter up A.S.A.P. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers!

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Miroku hadn't received a visit from Inuyasha for about a week now and he had not been blind to the anxiety around him. Shippo colored many pictures of Kagome and Inuyasha returning back through the well. Kirara remained close curled up at Sango's feet every moment of the day and night while Sango kept busy learning how to strengthen her weapons with Kaede, who also seemed distracted. Miroku realized that he had developed a habit to frequently rub the beads concealing his right hand at night. He didn't even remember when it was he last saw Kagome. Nearly a month he guessed. He thought he knew why Inuyasha was keeping Kagome home. When Kaede gave him the herbs to take to her, Miroku's suspicions were confirmed.

Miroku found himself beside the well yet again. Thoughts leading him to the well had also become a habit for him while Kagome and Inuyasha were gone.

One beaded hand reached out and caressed the old wood of the well. This lumber was once part of the tree of ages and it certainly seemed to have held its powers over the years. Miroku was surprised by the peace he felt around this graveyard for demon bones, but he welcomed it. Leaning down to rest his shoulder against the outside of the well, he understood now that this well did not only hold the key to Inuyasha and Kagome's past, but Sango and his as well. If Kagome never fell through that well, he would never have met this beautiful woman who he was willing to settle down with. Not just _willing_ either, but _dying_ to settle down with.

He felt himself falling into a doze, being more relaxed than he had been for a long while. He let out a slight moan of exhaustion as his head began to bob. Eventually, it lay against his standing staff that leaned against the well in a small chain of a support system.

Just as he felt himself completely leaving the waking world, Miroku was shoved violently to the ground. Scrambling to stand, he noticed the odd blue light reflecting in the gold of his staff.

"Get out of the way, Miroku!" A hand harshly shoved his upper lip into his nose and flattened him to the ground. Then as he began to grasp his bearings again, a strong grip on his collar pulled him up and forward to a pair of black eyes.

"Inuyasha?" Miroku felt an urge to hug his now human friend.

Inuyasha pressed his nose to Miroku's and wrinkled it. "Get moving now!" The last word came out in a growling roar.

"Wha—" Miroku was thrown amazingly far forward for Inuyasha's current state.

"Move!" He was being shoved toward the village forcefully and repeatedly.

"Alright! Alright Inuyasha! I'm running!" Miroku finally caught his balance and began to sprint on his own accord. He could hear Inuyasha panting in his ear. He realized when he began to slow down while entering the village that his friend remained right beside him incase Miroku's legs gave out on him. Miroku realized this because as soon as he slowed down, he heard the panting slow with his pace then felt Inuyasha's palm shove at his back again. Miroku felt very protected by this action from Inuyasha, even if it would mean a harsh bruise on his shoulder in the morning.

Miroku almost missed Kaede's door, but Inuyasha managed to pull him by the collar and pivot into the hut out of the dark of night. The hut held a faint glow from a fire brewing one of Kaede's stews, sure to be tasty. Sango sat up in the corner at the sudden burst of panting she heard enter the hut, but Kirara leaped immediately into the air and bolted to nuzzle Inuyasha's leg. She stopped short of him however when she sensed his adrenalin rush.

"What happened?" Sango stood in her white sleeping kimono with her hand on her Hiraikotsu.

"That," Miroku huffed, "is exactly what I am wondering. And what _are_ you wearing?"

Inuyasha peaked out the entrance to the hut and sniffed at the air out of habit. "Damn," he grumbled, "I can't smell anything."

"Inuyasha," Sango's hand touched his shoulder. "Inuyasha, where's Kagome?"

He turned to see her gazing at him. "The last time I saw her was on the other side of the well." He fell forward and Sango managed to catch him to lower him to he floor. Exhausted, Inuyasha bit his lip to keep himself awake long enough to explain to them.

"We just started running," Miroku started.

"We were running because we were being chased." Inuyasha interrupted. "Now listen for a minute." The two sat down to where he rested.

"Watch Kagome's eyes. Don't trust them…Damn, I don't know how I got through that well right now but I did, and I don't know if she can when that thing has her."

"Inuyasha," Sango stopped him. "You not making any sense."

"I left her! That's what I am telling you. I had to leave her there, because I'd be dead if I hadn't! Damn it!" He clutched his side. "If I died then I couldn't have gotten here to tell you!"

Miroku hovered over him, untying the robe's knot. "Inuyasha I'm going to look at your side."

Inuyasha grabbed Miroku's collar and yanked him to his face. "Don't you dare sleep with Kagome." He growled. "No matter what she does!"

Miroku glanced nervously up to Sango who had she arms crossed over her chest, glaring at him. "I…um had not planned on it!"

"I mean it!" Inuyasha growled.

"Okay okay! No matter what, I promise." He grinned at Sango. "Perhaps the fair Sango would help me keep that promise?"

The loud smack from Sango's hand across Miroku's cheek snapped him back into his previous task of attending to Inuyasha's side.

"What is wrong with Kagome?" Sango pushed.

Inuyasha yelped when he felt Miroku's hands on his gash. "Damn it that hurts!"

"Good, now you are making more sense." Miroku nodded.

"Inuyasha," Sango shook his shoulders. "What is wrong with Kagome?"

"Kagome's been possessed again. Damn it, Miroku would you quit that while I'm trying to talk?"

Miroku placed his hands behind his back and stared at Inuyasha to let him know he was listening.

"Sango," Inuyasha pleaded. "Tell Kaede that Kagome has snake eyes and the first signs were like her having a baby."

Miroku and Sango both spoke in unison: "We thought so!"

Inuyasha's eyes widened and he shook his head. "But she's not! She has a parasite in…where the baby is supposed to be." Inuyasha quieted suddenly at the thought. _Where the baby was _supposed_ to be._

"I don't understand." Sango said. "I've never heard of such a thing before."

Miroku stood up. "I have."

"Good, 'cause I have no clue what the hell's going on!" Inuyasha exclaimed.

"Sango," Miroku leveled his eyes at her. "Take care of Inuyasha's wound and I'll go find Kaede and Shippo." With that, he left the hut.

Sango watched him go, and then pulled back the robe to see the wound on Inuyasha's side. "This looks like a bite mark, a lizard bite mark."

"Yeah, I'm not surprised. That is what she did, after trying to get me to mate with her."

"Mate with you?" Sango was taken aback. Kirara had perched herself daintily in the entranceway to the hut, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.

"Yeah." Inuyasha stared at he ceiling while Sango dressed his wounds.


	18. Fireflies

Outside in the dark, Shippo was chasing fireflies beside Kaede's herb garden. The glow from the tiny entities was the only thing that would keep him occupied and his mind off Inuyasha and Kagome's absence. He would go out every night now just to loose himself in the small starlight around him. It was his form of withdrawal from dealing with Kagome missing. He had tried a few times to jump into the well in hopes to find her on the other side, but had been unsuccessful in crossing-over. The lights helped him forget she wasn't just asleep in the hut.

Shippo stopped in the middle of closing his hands on an insect. The firefly flew contently out of his grasp and hovered over a nearby log. Shippo's ears flicked curiously back and forth. Standing on his toes, he sniffed at the breeze that broke his concentration in the first place. _Kagome?_ It sure smelled like her, but it smelled different. It _was_ her scent, but it was mingled with something…musty. Like something that spent its life under wet, dead leaves.

The little fox demon leapt into a sprint towards the smell. He didn't care what the other scent was, he only knew that he could smell Kagome and he was running to latch onto her and never let go.

"Kagome!" He cried into the night. "Kagome! I'm coming!"

"Kaede," Miroku pulled back the door flap to a hut where I Kaede nursed over a young boy.

Kaede grunted at the arthritis in her hands as she untied a bundle of herbs she recently harvested for the fevered boy. "What is it, Miroku?" She finally untied the bundle and began to separate them into groups

Miroku entered the hut completely and stood between Kaede and the light from the fire. "Please I must speak with you alone, priestess." Miroku insisted.

"Alright, just get out of my light and I'll be done." Miroku stepped away and kneeled to help her finish sooner. "These go into the pot to boil so the lad can breathe in the steam, and these will be crushed and mixed in with yonder stew." She made a motion to a bowl of stew she had brought from her own hut. Miroku obediently dropped one pile into the pot and mixed the other in with the stew, then gave it to the boy on the sleeping mat.

"Now," Kaede stood and walked out of the hut. "What do ye wish to speak about, young monk?"

Miroku glanced around cautiously then began. "I am afraid, priestess, that we may have a problem with Kagome."

"Kagome!" Shippo dodged a low hanging branch. "Kagome!" She was close; he could smell it as he ran faster with anticipation. He wouldn't even ask for candy, he would be one hundred percent good so she wouldn't leave again. He felt tears swelling in his eyes and he let them run, blurring his vision.

"Oh Kagome! Please don't leave me again!" He cried as he flung himself onto her back.

Kagome made an "oaf" sound and fell forward into the dirt. Shippo scrambled around her, begging her not to leave and speaking so fast his own temples began to pound with a headache. He didn't notice Kagome beginning to push herself up with her arms. He didn't notice her fingernails had lengthened and he didn't see that they were plunged into the ground violently. He didn't see her jaw tighten at his touch, and didn't see the cords of muscle and veins standing out on her neck and arms.

Kagome let out a small growl. "How are you, little pup?" She stood and smiled down at the fox pup's wide-eyed expression. Kagome had never called him that. He would have expected that from Inuyasha before her. Her voice was also lower and raspier. _And aren't her teeth a little too sharp?_ Shippo felt the other smell get stronger, the _not_ Kagome smell. His mouth dropped open and he felt his face drain into white.

"W—who are you?" Shippo trembled and felt his bladder suddenly get much, much heavier.

Kagome laughed and her fangs seemed to glow in the darkness. Shippo wondered how they could do that with no moon reflecting off of them. Then he was being pulled up to Kagome's face…by his neck.

Kagome's eyes opened fully and he saw the slit pupil where her warm eyes used to live. "Who am I?" Kagome chuckled again. "I'm just the one who's going to send you to meet your maker."

Shippo grew cold as he realized that there were no fireflies within sight anymore.


	19. For Kagome's Life

A/N: Mmmmkay...I know you've all been like WTF is going on with Kagome? Well here ya go! LOL. It actually is not too far off from what some real spiders do...shivers Anyway, the ending to this story is in site, but we won't get there for a while...especially if I have too much fun with the up-comming chapters. Diologues between two specific characters may be too entertaining to contain to one or two chapters. Hehe. Evil me. Oh and I love Shippo to death, do not worry he will be okay. I promise. If you want a "die Shippo, die" story, the closest thing I have to that is "Taste of Blood." Well, thanks again for all the support and keep reading and reviewing for me!

P.S. 110 reviews! Yeah! Happy, happy me.

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"This thing does what?" Sango sat down beside where Inuyasha lay. She felt horrified and sick. Miroku watched her as Kaede explained, and noted how hard it was to turn a demon slayer's stomach. Inuyasha lay at the ceiling wide-eyed, stiff with shock.

"Miroku told me her symptoms." Kaede tried to soothe Sango with her voice. "I thought they had all died off, but apparently a few have survived."

Sango shook her head. "But what are they? Why do they…do it?"

Kaede sighed and turned to Miroku to explain while she searched her scrolls for help. Miroku, taken aback by what was being asked of him, froze for a moment in place.

"I—I um…"

Inuyasha snarled, "Just spit it out, Miroku."

The monk sat down and crossed his legs. "I don't really know that much about them, just the basics."

"That is all any of us know anymore," Kaede chimed in.

"But, the thing is a lizard spirit. It has no aura, so you couldn't have sensed it." Miroku cleared his throat. "It gets into a woman who is with child so it can eat her offspring." Miroku cringed at what he said. "It gets into a woman who isn't with child too feed off of them and get her to…" He looked at Inuyasha who remained staring upward with a strained look on his face. "And get her to breed. It is a parasite. It can feed off the woman's body itself, but it needs to eat the growing child to get its optimum strength."

Sango's gaze bore through Miroku. "And what is that?"

Miroku swallowed. "To reproduce."

"Reproduce?" Sango stood up. "But you said there weren't many left! This might be the last one! How can it breed without a male?"

"This lizard spirit can breed, then keep its body dormant until it finds a suitable environment to lay its eggs in." Kaede answered.

"It lays its eggs inside off the woman's body, all the while the woman thinks she is with child and so is more careful and protective of her body. Perfect living conditions. Then," Miroku continued, "when the eggs hatch, the woman who was the host becomes their first meal."

A growl was heard from where Inuyasha lay.

"They'll eat her," Sango spoke as in a daze, "from the inside out."

Miroku's head was cupped in his palms and he rubbed his eyes. "Yes. And sense its species is dying off, the one in Kagome is sure to be determined to have a healthy litter."

"It sure was determined," Inuyasha spoke up. He pulled himself into a sitting position and watched Kaede thumb through a stack of scrolls. "How the hell do we get it out of her body?"

"I don't know," Miroku admitted.

"We might be able to exercise it out," Kaede said. "It may work quite well because of Kagome's own spiritual powers. I just need to find an appropriate one."

Sango asked; "Just the two of you would be enough? Do we need to find another monk or priest?"

"There isn't one around for at least half a day's walk, and I'm afraid we don't have that kind of time." Miroku pondered. "Especially if the spirit is determined to get Kagome to…" Inuyasha glared at him from the other side of the hut. Miroku cleared his throat again, "Um…well, you know."

"Well, how do we find her and get her to stay still long enough to exercise it out of her?" Sango plopped back down onto the floor.

"I don't know," Miroku stated flatly.

Silence filled the room and no one brought up any ideas. Finally Inuyasha grunted and spoke.

"You could do it."

Sango turned to look at him. "What?"

"Miroku," Inuyasha's gaze fell to the floor. " You could flirt with her. Get her to think you'll…" His voice fell with his gaze and against the pain from his side, he pulled his legs up under him. The satin robe fell off his left knee slightly, but he didn't notice. "She already tried with me. She knows I know what she is. That thing might not even know you, and it doesn't know I've told you what's going on."

Miroku started at Inuyasha. "You mean, you _want _me to do this?"

Inuyasha's eyes snapped back to Miroku. "Hell no! You just keep her occupied until that witch," he gestured to Kaede, "finds a spell for her." Inuyasha pushed himself up against the wall. He hunched his way over to Miroku who stood to meet him. Grabbing the monk by the collar, he lifted him slightly, just so his heels didn't touch the floor.

Inuyasha bared his flat teeth to Miroku and pulled him so their noses almost touched. "By the way," he began. "Don't you _dare_ touch her!" A growl escaped his lips. "Because you know how you keep telling me to tell her my feelings? Well, if we get out of this alive I'm gonna, and I wouldn't want to have to kill my best man and the monk who is gonna marry us all at once."

Miroku smiled despite himself, all nervousness about the situation blown away. "Don't you fret, Inuyasha. I have no desire what-so-ever to do anything with Lady Kagome inappropriate."

Sango let a silent sigh leave her lungs at that moment after glancing around to make sure no one would notice.

"Well get out there then and find Kagome, before Kouga does!" Inuyasha dropped Miroku and fell down to the floor without the support of anger to hold him up.

Miroku folded back the door flap and quickly glanced back to Sango. _Don't worry Sango_, He thought, _I won't touch anyone. I promise._

Sango saw it in Miroku's eyes. Even after the flap was closed and she was seated next to Inuyasha inspecting his wounds, she felt it. Her cheeks remained pink and warm.

"Damn it." Inuyasha grumbled. "I can't wait for this night to be over."

"Do not worry yourself," Kaede spoke up from a scroll she had been reading. "This night is almost over."

Sango perked up and Kirara reacted to her motion by circling her to see what was wrong. Sango looked up to Kaede and her mouth opened. "Where's Shippo?"


	20. A House

A/N: This one is short, but it lets you know what happened with Shippo. I really like this part and it just felt like it needed its own chapter, rather than being plugged into another one. I am still writing tonight, but I took a break to post this. I really like this one. I may go back and make it even more "boo-hooey" later on. Tell me what you think on that.

As always thank you to my reviewers and the reason this story continues. You are the lights of my life;)

Well...I would continue the story anyway, but it wouldn't be updated as often if it weren't for the reviewers. Hehe.

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_Where am I?_ Her head pounded in her ears. _What am I doing in Inuyasha's forest?_

She felt dazed, but unfortunately that daze didn't block out any pain she was currently experiencing. Her head felt like she had an anvil dropped on it, and she didn't even want to think about the cramps ripping through her abdomen. Her memory was no better. She couldn't remember anything after…after…

Kagome tipped her head up in a violent gasp. "After Inuyasha was practicing!" Her eyes flashed open, revealing soft brown orbs. The eyes she was born with.

That was right; Inuyasha was going to ask her to be his girlfriend. Kagome lowered her head and looked around her. Dark moonless night forest was all she could see. What was she doing there? Where was Inuyasha? Did he ever get to ask her to be his?

Kagome snorted and pushed herself up to stand. "Figures! He finally gets the nerve to ask and something like _this_ happens." She shook her head and began dusting dead leaves off her pajamas. "How did I get here?"

"Kagome," a small voice wavered in the stillness of the woods.

Kagome turned on her heels in the direction of the voice. She stuck her neck out and opened her eyes wide. "Who is it?" she whispered.

She heard some rustling from a bush in front of her. "Kagome?" She heard a small sniffling sound.

"Shippo?" Kagome stepped back and clutched her heart. In instant later when Shippo poked a frightened head out of the branches of the bush, Kagome removed her hand from her heart and crushed it to her mouth.

"Kagome," the tiny fox demon sniffed again. "Is it really you?"

She fell to her knees and dropped her arms at her sides. "Shippo," she strained to speak. "What happened?"

Shippo stepped completely out of the bush revealing matted orange hair with mud and sticks poking out. He was unharmed but for the expression on his face. His face was devastated and lost.

"Shippo," she felt the tears reaching her cheeks. "Oh, Shippo forgive me."

The expression on Shippo's face cracked and broke off to allow a look of pure relief and gratitude to shine through.

"Kagome!" he cried and leapt into her arms. Wet kisses on her face wiped away her salty tears, but no matter the comfort Shippo gave, Kagome continued to feel moisture fall down her cheeks onto her collarbone.

"Oh, Shippo," she sobbed into his bangs and locked her arms around the tiny child who comforted her. "What did I _do_?"

He rubbed his cheek against hers and nuzzled into the nook between her jaw and neck. "Nothing, Kagome. I got away. Don't worry, I got away."

Kagome felt her chest heave and she let out a long moan. She fell forward covering Shippo in her embrace, protecting him as she cried and he sobbed along with her. She became a small; secure shelter for him to feel content in. A house. A house who's breathing lulled him to sleep and kept him warm against the cold night air.


	21. Mushrooms

A/N: The next few chapters _will_ be longer and will be better written. I promise you that. This one I am not really satisfied with, but I wanted to postit and go back to it later. The next few will be more discriptive and complete and they will feel less hurried. However, this may mean more time to write them. I will not leave the readers of this story waiting too long for anything because I wouldn't like that if I were them. :) I just wanted everyone to know that because I feel slightly disgusted with how crappy this chapter is...lol. Anyway, this does answer some questions and I start on chapter 22 tomorrow.

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"Shippo," Kagome sniffed and wiped away the last of her tears. "What happened?"

The two had fallen asleep with each other in the woods, Shippo remaining warm from Kagome's embrace, Kagome becoming colder and colder until her body simply wouldn't let her sleep anymore. When she stirred and sat up, Shippo jerked awake and couldn't go back to sleep. Kagome cradled him in her arms now as she shivered against the cold, damp air.

Shippo peeked up at her through his bangs. "Kagome…" His voice dropped and he lowered his eyes.

Kagome allowed him to snuggle deeper into her arms. "Shippo, I need to know what's wrong with me." _I need to make sure I didn't hurt anyone else. Make sure I didn't hurt…_

She blinked away the thought of harming Inuyasha.

"Kagome," Shippo snuggled into her lap and closed his eyes. "You," he sniffed in an attempt to keep calm enough to tell her what she needed to know. "I was scared. You picked me up by my neck, Kagome. You tried to choke me." He wiped his eye. "The fireflies even left…"

"What?" Kagome couldn't understand.

Shippo shook his head, knowing it wasn't important. "You grinned at me and your teeth were pointy. All of them were. And your eyes were like a lizards."

Kagome pulled him closer, "Like what?"

Shippo tilted his face to look at her. "Your eyes, the pupils were in up-down slits."

"My eyes?" Kagome felt lost and baffled at the directions.

"Yeah, and you smelled different."

Kagome sat stiff for a moment. _Slit pupils?_

Shippo whined in her arms at the cold air.

"How did you get away?"

"What?" He stared at her lips.

Kagome blinked and lowered her head to look the child in the eyes. "How did you escape?"

Shippo bent to reach into his vest to pull out a tiny mushroom with pop-eyes. "This," he held it up to her nose.

Kagome raised her eyebrow and sniffed the mushroom. Nothing, it did not affect her at all. "And?" she questioned.

"When you weren't you," Shippo stated, "this bothered you. In fact it made you down-right sick." He pointed to where she awoke before. "You fell down flat from one huff and lay there screaming," Shippo shivered. "And _hissing_."

Kagome set Shippo down and stood up. "Did I hurt anyone else?"

"I don't think so." Shippo scratched his head. "I think I smelled you when you came through the well, but I haven't seen anyone for a while now."

Kagome placed her hand on her stomach and turned her head in the general direction of Kaede's village. Wind rifted through her hair and she splayed her fingers out. Without even looking at Shippo, she began to walk away.

"Kagome!" He cried.

She stopped and glanced back over her shoulder. "Keep those mushrooms handy, Shippo. You may need them." She turned back toward the village and walked away from the little fox demon.

Shippo blinked and focused on her form until he could no longer make her out among the dark trees. He sniffed at the air and picked up Miroku's scent coming from a nearby spot. Rustling from the brush allowed Shippo to launch himself directly at the monk.

"Shippo," Miroku stopped in his tracts as the tiny orange fur ball hit him squarely in the chest and then slid down to the ground. Miroku bent and leaned on his staff to inspect the boy. "Shippo, don't stay around here," he cautioned. "It isn't safe. Go back and stay with Kaede."

Shippo rubbed his forehead. "I know," he grumbled. "I just ran into Kagome. I think she is looking for Inuyasha."

The monk straightened up. "Where did she go?"

Shippo pointed, "To the village I think. She's herself right now, but I don't think she is going to stay that way." Shippo glance away, remembering his near-death experience.

Miroku turned his eyes in the direction Shippo indicated. If she was looking for Inuyasha, did that mean their plan would even work?

"And," Shippo pulled out a few mushrooms and held them up to Miroku. "When she…isn't herself, she doesn't like these." The monk picked them out of his hand and examined them up close. "They make her sick."

Miroku sniffed them and felt no ill effect on him, then placed them in the folds of his robes. "Thank you, Shippo," he allowed a smile to pass over his lips. "But, do as I say and get back to the protection of Kaede."

Shippo nodded and sprang into a run. Miroku followed his general direction slowly, tracking Kagome.


	22. Figure in the Mist

A/N: Okay, here's the deal. I love writing this story, but I was feeling very pressured to write a frickin' long chapter to make up for my shorties I've had. The thing is that I end the chapters where I think they _should_ end. It is based on what sounds good in my head with sectioning them off. So, I will continue to write them the way I want. :) However, if I do put a real short one up, I promise to either post a longer one with it, or very soon after.

Thanks yet again to all my wonderful readers and reviewers. "You light up my life!"

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The pain in her abdomen was killing her. It felt as if it were literally ripping her in half. She dropped on her knees and threw her head back with her mouth gaping open. _Oh, shit…_ Kagome screamed inside her head. The scream spewed out from her lips in the form of semi-digested food, thrashing her body forward to hold herself up with her palms pressed to the cold ground. Kagome hacked into a stupor until she experienced dry heaves and screeched at her own body to _stop, please stop!_ She was tired, so _tired_ of this! She pounded her fist to the dirt and cried out in her aggravation at her own body.

"Get _out_!" Her voiced sounded like a lemon had been scratching against her throat. "Leave me alone!" Hot, fiery tears burned her cheeks as she screamed into the night. She pounded her fist into the dirt again. Blue light erupted from her clenched fingers and the ground under her hand broke, sending a long crack into a nearby rock then stopping short before it hit a tree that held a bird's nest. She stopped screaming out of shock from the magnitude of her own power, and listened carefully to the woods around her.

The sound of a nearby stream calmed her long enough for her to taste the vomit residue in her mouth. "Ewe," she spit at the acidic coating in her mouth. She propped herself up on her hands and knees and slowly turned to the sound of the stream. _I have got to get the taste out of my mouth._ Pulling herself forward, she slowly made her way down to the bank of the stream and drank.

Sweat shone on her forehead and her pajamas clung to her moist body. She touched a hand to her cheek and found it smolderingly hot. _I have to get my fever down. _The water in front of her was cool from the night air, but not freezing. Shivering in her clothing, she peeled off her top and then her bottoms. She hesitated before she dropped her underwear, and then did it anyway. Her bleeding had stopped some time ago, it seemed, and she wondered whether that was good thing.

Kagome stepped into the water, and he teeth chattered. The cool temperature against her hot, fevered skin was a drastic change, but she felt more alert as soon as the initial goose bumps subsided. Rinsing out her mouth, she rubbed her fingers over her teeth with water until her gums bled and the horrible taste was gone. Her tired body leaned against a smooth rock, and she felt her eyes growing heavy. _No,_ her mind whispered. _I need to find Inuyasha._

Her hand fell into the water from where she rested it on her chest, and her fingers danced as tiny bubbles from the soft current lead them from waltz to waltz.

The young monk had come to think of Kagome less as a young attractive girl, and more of beloved family member. In many ways she was like a baby sister to him, but he also felt fatherly to her much of the time. He reasoned that this was because he was more mature than the others in his group, because of his age, but especially due to his shortened life. The truth of the mater was that he loved Kagome more than he would admit, and he wouldn't admit it because it was not the way he was accustomed to loving a woman. He loved Sango as he always expected he would love the woman he would one day spend the rest of his life with, but he was never prepared to love a girl, who he once found quite attractive and perfectly capable of bearing him children, as a family member. Kagome was new territory for him, and he supposed he was no better than Inuyasha in denying how much she meant to him.

No, Sango did not have to worry about the situation with Kagome. He could never touch Kagome in a sexual way, even if Sango had never been a part of his life. And, he certainly couldn't seem to touch any woman as long as his mind wandered to Sango.

Smiling to himself, he walked through the misty woods to the sound of water current. He needed a drink before he retraced his steps. He seemed to have lost Kagome's trail, and thought a nice drink of fresh water might help his mind clear.

"Ahh," he sighed as he set his staff next to him and drank from the cool, clear water. Sitting back on his haunches, he wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve glance over at the misty water.

Miroku thought he was dying. A beautiful naked woman stood within the mist, knee-deep in water. Her back was turned to him, and he watched the muscles under her smooth skin twitch and gently ripple as she wove her delicate fingers through her stark, black hair. She was braiding it to the side of her neck, and he quickly noticed that she was swaying back and forth so that the curve of her hips enticed him to run a hand along the side of her stomach then down, following that dancing curve. Her white skin blended in with the mist, and stood apart from the dark shiny water she danced in. She began to hum softly to herself as she finished the thick braid, and she began to turn in his direction.

On his hands and knees, the monk gulped and closed his eye, breathless from what he had just encountered. A beauty beyond belief stood before him, nude. Her movements more than her nudity made him take in a harsh gasp of cold air. Just then, Sango's face filled his thoughts and he felt the awe he felt for the young woman he had seen fade, though the physical attraction held strong. _Now, now._ He assured himself. _You know that's not what you really want. You promised Sango._ Even if it was a silent promise, he intended to keep it.

Opening his eyes, he found the strange woman staring into him, a few paces closer than she was before. At first, Miroku couldn't recognize her. He knew he should, but he couldn't place that familiar face. Had she been a woman he drank with from a while ago?

The woman shifted and took a step closer. "Hello, young monk." Her voice was smooth, like the water she stood in, but something about it was…distorted. Like someone had thrown a pebble, causing ripples in the water. But, the voice was familiar.

Miroku felt the attraction to her plummet into an almost nonexistent level. His lively eyes dropped the corners, making him appear much older than his age. He lowered his head to avoid her skin; he couldn't look at her without feeling his stomach turning. Her nudity itself no longer affected him in anyway, but in her condition, without her clothing, he could see how sickly she had become. He watched the ground as he heard her creep through the still waters, closer, closer. He couldn't look at her body, not with the gaunt form he hadn't noticed from farther way in the mist, and not with that slightly bloated abdomen. Yes, she was still beautiful, but knowing the vibrant girl she had been the last time he saw her, and knowing what lurked inside of her, he simply could not look at her.

"Kagome," he clenched his eyes shut at the pain of seeing his friend in this condition. Her palm was pressed against he back of his neck, caressing his stiff bones. He turned his head away from her as she bent down to his level.

"Mmmm," she purred into his ear. A cool, slick tongue slipped out and licked his earlobe, then formed into a trail of soft kisses down his throat.

She was trying to seduce him. Miroku forced himself to face her and paste on a smile. Miroku felt the old charm flow through him, no matter that is was false. He grinned wider and grazed a finger over her collarbone. She breathed in heavily and he saw a flash of slit pupils. He pushed his smile to hold even though he wanted to run.

"So…" Miroku crooned, his voice deepening in pitch. "Interested in going back to the village with me?"

_For Kagome,_ he told himself, managing to swallow his disgust at his actions. _For Kagome._


	23. Enchanted

A/N: Mmmmkay, so this chapter was going to be funny, but with how the ending of the last chapter occured, I didn't feel like it would be realistic to make it funny. Maybe I can sqweeze in some funny in the next chapter, but I dunno. This story seems to have stayed on track with it's seriousness, save a few incidents. Oh, well. We shall see.

Thanks again to all readers and reviewers. And hey, if you like the story sooo much then recomend it to people. ;)

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The hut was actually an old quarantine shelter that was rarely used anymore because of its loose floor planks and drafty walls. The villagers and Kaede had planned to restore it to at least dry herbs and mix medicines in, but they had their own lives to worry about. Tending to a garden and hunting to survive did not leave much time for fixing up an old quarantine hut, especially when the village had a well-built one on the other side of town, closer to both Kaede and the river. Kaede had suggested it for the exorcism place. It was far enough away from other huts and was as sterile as anything else in the town because of is sitting stagnant for so long with no sickness coming or going. And it was private. The thing inside Kagome would feel at ease and more trusting in such an area. Now all Miroku had to do was wait for sunrise, when Inuyasha would be well again and able to keep guard with Sango while Kaede and he preformed the ceremony.

Miroku nodded in approval to himself when he stepped through the hut's entrance. This would serve perfectly.

He felt a cheek rest on the back of his shoulder from his companion, who had been silent, the entire walk here. "So…" she cooed softly in his ear. A hand came up to rest on his chest and he felt the skin under palm shiver, even through his robes.

He turned to face her, feeling uncomfortable with his back to her. Her lips were pursed out into a plum seductive pose. _Again_, thought Miroku. She smiled and traced small circles behind his ears with her fingertips. Weaving in and out along his hairline, her fingers slowed and softened until he was feeling a little light-headed. Splayed-out fingers ran through the thick hair at his temples and he felt his eyes close and his mouth open, in what could only be described as drunkenness. A quiet moan fell from his lips and he felt like he was floating. _What did she put in my sake?_ Miroku was able to open his eyes when he remembered. _We didn't even _have_ sake! _

His vision wasn't quite right, for the woman standing before him was no longer reminding him of Kagome. Not their Kagome. This girl looked just like Kagome, and he did know that, but her presence and appearance did not remind him of Kagome's personality anymore. All thoughts of "off limits due to family-like love" fled from his mind. Kagome, when she looked like Kagome, but did not remind him _of_ Kagome, suddenly looked like a delicate treat. Especially in her nudity and with the way she was combing her fingernails through his hair. It was like being under a spell.

He _was_ under a spell, and knew it, but cared not at all. Indulgence right now, was driving his movements, as he slipped a cupped hand along her cool-skinned hip. He felt her hands now tugging at his outer robes, gently trying to untie the knot at his shoulder. He dropped to his knees, so she could reach it better and pressed his face into her stomach. Kneading her smooth, soft skin with his lips, he kissed around her navel and pressed his cheek along the moist trail he made. Miroku was intoxicated and barely knew what he was doing. It was all happening in a mist, just like when he saw her earlier. Before he knew she was Kagome.

_Kagome!_

With a flash his eyes flew open at the reminder that he was doing this to _Kagome_ of all people, not just some beauty he found in a nearby village. His back and neck when rigid at the thought, and the erection he was surprised to find he had been afflicted with, withered at once. This was _Kagome,_ for heaven's sake!

Before he could pull away—no actually, it was just as he was tightening his neck muscles _to_ pull away—he felt fingernails grip at his hair again. _Oh no,_ he closed his eyes and sighed deeply, the spell already taking hold once more. He stood, noting through the new haze that the knot on his outer robe was free. Miroku felt his hair tie slip away to the floor, revealing wild shoulder-length raven locks. All of these sensations flowed past him as slipped away just as his hair tie did, then once gone forgotten.

Her lips kept him enticed and distracted. The strawberry-colored fullness of them begged for his attention. Bending over to take her mouth in his, he wrapped his arms around her waist and felt his outer robe finally drop from lack of support. Touching his lips to hers, she responded by grazing her tongue over his upper lip. His right hand clenched and relaxed from the shivers spinning through his body from that contact.

He wanted his tongue inside of her mouth more than anything at that moment. Searching and prying for a way between her lips, something probed at his mind. Shrugging it off he found the entrance me was searching for and took it. That nagging sensation didn't cease though, it became worse. Gliding his tongue over hers, massaging it, he thought he heard a crack—like the crackling of a log over a fire. His mind now screamed at him—forget the prodding, none of that anymore—and he felt he heard that _CRACK_ again, much, much louder.

Miroku reeled backwards away from the sweet kiss still lingering on his mouth, and fell onto his butt, fall broken from his discarded outer robe.

"Sango," he cried, to startled to restrain the mention of another woman's name around Kagome. So much for the charade, she was sure to know he was up to something now.

He couldn't have helped it though. That nagging, that prodding he felt on his mind earlier, brought an image of Sango just hours before. She had seen the promise in his eyes; he knew he intended to keep that promise.

Fingers…trailing back through his loose hair. _Where in the hell did my hair tie go?_ Miroku pondered.

Fingers…weaving a spell over him once again.

_Sango,_ he thought of her. Her eyes filled his mind's eye and he could tell just from the corners of them tipping up, that she was smiling.

Okay, he would play her game. Though unaffected by her attempts to control him again, he closed his eyes and sighed. _I'll play your little game;_ Miroku felt his mouth turn up in a grin. _But only until I damn well kick you right out of Kagome. _

* * *

A/N: See? Could be a set up for one pretty funny chapter. It just depends on which side of my brain writes it. _BUT!_ _You, yes you the readers could sway the ballence!_ Tell me what you think. Let me know if I should have a funny chapter between Kagome and Miroku, or not. I believe in the power to vote here (even if you don't agree with everyone, I'll be glad you voted!). Oh and to AnimeGirl622, hey I am sorry I haven't see you, but I got some great FSU stuff for you if you want me to mail it! E-mail me.


	24. Cluck for Me

A/N: It was purely amazing that I had so much trouble writting this chapter, and I STILL don't feel like I did those of you waiting for it justice. Well, the funny votes won! Yay! I figured they would. Thanks to all who voted and for those of you who wanted a serious chapter, don't worry the rest of the story is coming up. Anyway, this is the result of watching _The Nanny_, _Whose Line is it Anyway_, and eating half of a gallon of Breyer's chocolate mint chip ice cream. And I don't own Breyer's ice cream or _Inuyasha_.

* * *

Miroku regained his composure and stood in front of Kagome. A wide smile stretched across his face as he gazed at her with half-lidded eyes. She curled her lips up and exposed tiny, sharp teeth. 

"Mmm…" Miroku stretched his arms out and moaned.

Kagome tilted her head to the side and gazed at him seductively. "Are you ready?" Her mouth dropped open in shock as she stared at the spectacle the man in front of her was making.

"Oh" Miroku gasped as the thing in Kagome stared on at him baffled. What in the world was he doing? The reptile was beginning to wonder if this man was insane. Although that didn't really bother her, for the man was fertile and would work for all her intentions, it was still quite unsettling. She didn't know whether to laugh at the strange monk, or shake him until his head rolled off. He was starting to disturb her.

The beast backed up a few steps so she wasn't so close.

"Mmm, oh yes," Miroku groaned to no one in particular and again smacked his own behind in excitement. He rocked forward a little with his motion, then rocked back on his heels and spanked himself again.

"Oooo…"

The demon felt the body she was controlling back ever further away from the monk, who was really starting to caution her. What would a loon like this do to the host body? Would he strangle her in mid-orgasm? She would have to start all over again, and she didn't have that much _time._ She couldn't risk a nut-job like this harming Kagome's body.

A loud crack was heard as Miroku spanked himself for the last time.

"Now just _wait a minute_!" She screeched at him. Her lengthened fingernails sunk into Kagome's smooth palms and she felt her left eye twitch. _I didn't do that,_ the thing thought. She did not like _humans_ who made her lose her control. "What in the hell are you _doing_?"

Miroku looked down at her innocently. "Um, sorry." He smiled and shrugged. "I got carried away." The smile that beamed from his lips was of pure divinity. "Can we start again?"

The creature stared at him, regaining control of the human she possessed. He seamed to be calming down now; this might work out okay.

She tipped Kagome's face up to meet his and tentatively stepped forward. "Alright, but keep your focus okay?" Saying this last with the sweet lilt in her voice returning, the demon lifted a hand to rub the monk's cheek. Abruptly, and to her surprise, he gently spun her around until he was holding her in an embrace from behind. Arms place delicately on her shoulders, he began to caress her, never moving anywhere inappropriate. Just her shoulders and arms. The reptile inside of Kagome was beginning to enjoy this. Although she could feel every sensation the human's body did, she had never actually felt the sexual pleasure from the humans mating her. Maybe an insane human to breed with wasn't such a bad idea. Maybe she would even pay him another visit before her eggs hatched. Maybe she would hold onto this body as long as she could and just keep breeding. She smiled at the thought, stretched lips pulling up into a curve.

She felt the monk lean into her and graze a kiss across her ear. Then, just as the creature began to think of how she wanted to have him, he whispered something to her.

"Cluck like a chicken," he said so smooth and velvety, the demon had to do a double take even tough the words were clear.

Kagome's eyes widened and her jaw dropped open. "Wh-what?" The thing was again at a loss for words.

Miroku rubbed his cheek along hers as if he had just told her he loved her and explained. "It turns me on." The last word was so low and sensuous; she again had to rethink what he had said. Surely he didn't say _that_! He must have said something else entirely.

"Beg your pardon?" It came out like "beg 'a' pardin" and the thing swallowed violently.

He leaned in closer. "Cluck," Miroku caressed his hand across her cheek, "like a chicken."

Again disturbed, and abandoning all ideas of getting any pleasure out of this task, the demon decided to humor him to get it over and done with.

Swallowing her pride as a lizard demon, the thing let out a soft "cluck."

"Hmm? Couldn't hear you."

Rolling Kagome's eyes, she repeated herself. "Cluck."

A moan erupted from the man behind her and she felt him shiver.

"Cluck cluck cluck."

"Mmm, oh yes. Mmm." He breathed into her hair. "Now flap your wings!"

"My _what_?"

"Your wings."

She looked down to her arms. "I don't have wiiinnnggss." She pronounced the word "wings" very slowly so he was sure to get it.

"Yes, you do." His voice was filled with triumph and reverence, as if he were telling someone about religion. "Everyone has their own inner wings!"

"My own inner wings." The sentence came out in a statement. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

Slowly and fully mortified, the demon lifted Kagome's arms and brought them down at her sides. "Cluck," she said after her arms flopped by her hips.

"Good," Miroku exclaimed, seeming so proud of her for "flapping her inner wings." "Now," he turned her around to face him and gazed at her intently. "Do it again, only this time _be_ the chicken!"

The demon had the sudden urge to be silly. She suspected it was rubbing off from this girl's psyche. Nevertheless, she had the urge.

Suddenly leaping up in the air, she shot her arms out to her side and flapped them with great speed and agility. A more enthusiastic cluck came out of her throat this time, one that sounded like: "ba-GAWK!" Then with a snarl, the creature landed and shoved away all thoughts of being goofy. She brought in feelings of anger and embarrassment, along with the thoughts of just getting this _over_ with.

But then the monk interrupted her growing distaste. "Oh, good! Good!" He clapped appreciatively.

She wondered his he was toying with her. He had broken her spell before when he called out that other woman's name, who is to say that he was safely in her clutches now? That makes no sense, why wouldn't he be running?

Miroku smiled and stopped clapping. "Beautiful." He reached his arms out to hold her again. She settled into his embrace carefully. Maybe he would be getting down to business now.

Miroku smiled to himself. Oh the cleverness of me, he thought pushing Kagome away and pinched her nose.

"Hey!" The reptile shriveled back from him in annoyance and surprising pain. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"I'm sorry," he shrugged. "I like noses. It's my thing."

Miroku glanced out through the doorway to see how close dawn was, and saw tiny flecks of gold crowning in the horizon. It wouldn't be long now. It wouldn't be long until Sango and Inuyasha would come.

The thing rubbed Kagome's nose and glared down the monk. She was officially tired of this horsing around and felt her host's blood flare in rage. She had never encountered this many problems with her litters and did not intend to wait around for more to go wrong. Pressing her claws into the flesh of Kagome's palm, the demon finally decided she had put up with enough crap from this fanatical monk.

Miroku's smile fell off his face as he saw her reach out, clutching his inner robe, and pulling him to her. It was amazing the strength she possessed, and the amount of blood that was being smeared onto his clothing.

"Now," she snarled at him. "Let's do it now!"


	25. Kagome's Dream

A/N: Sorry it took me this long to get this chapter up. I have been sick and having midterms and everything. THEN I get an e-mail saying that I committed an infraction because I posted the proverb which Hojo talks about in chapter 8 of this story. Okay I thought it was okay as long as I didn't claim it was mine, which I didn't. I specifically said it wasn't mine. Oh, and no one owns a proverb. But oh well. I can't post anything until 4-12-05. So, blame this place. It took them a while to take down that proverb, so maybe I can leave this up before they decide it's an infraction. Grrr. Is it an infraction to state my opinion? Cuz, it's my ORIGIONAL work!

* * *

At first, all Kagome thought of in the drift of blackness she floated through was that she wasn't sick anymore. And for a while that was enough. 

Then she started to dream.

And when she dreamt, she screamed.

The thing inside her had been quiet until now, none of the whispering she had sometimes heard while under Menomaru's and Tsubaki's spells. She was actually content enough to be disgusted that she had been possessed yet _again_.

Her baby was crying.

_You don't have a baby, Kagome. _

Yes I do—

_Don't kid yourself—_

Inuyasha and I are having one…together. She ran her fingers across her stretched and bloated belly. Right here, my baby is right here with me.

_Kagome, _her new acquaintance whispered._ You are skin and bones._

But, my baby—

—_You do not have a baby!_

Not yet! But I will…soon!

_Listen to what I say! You do not have a baby._

It's Inuyasha's.

_Inuyasha is not a father. _

We are going to be his family.

_You are not a mother. _

He needs a family!

_He already has one!_

Flashed of memories danced across her

(vision?)

dream eyes. Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kirara, and even old Kaede.

_You are his family, honey._

It was her mother's voice that directed her this time.

_He has more family than he thinks._

A memory of Sesshomaru fighting _together_ with Inuyasha to defeat the cat demon tribe revived itself in her mind.

"Sesshomaru," she whispered to herself in the darkness of her mind.

At last a scene played out before her she least expected. Her family. All of them, Grandpa, Sota, Mama, and Inuyasha sitting around the table sharing eggs and fish.

Strangely enough, Sango's voice broke her thoughts. _Your family has become one for him as well. _

Kagome glanced down to a baby she held in her arms now, rather than in her womb. Wrapped up so tight in a thick red haori she recognized, the baby's face was obliterated from her view. Kagome closed her eyes and found she was praying for the baby to look like Inuyasha. Carefully balancing her precious cargo, she took one arm out from cradling the bundle to unwrap the haori. It seamed as though hundreds of layers were delicately coiled around this child's face, and she didn't recall Inuyasha's haori being this large. A muffled coo was heard from underneath the cloth.

_Kagome._

Her efforts to free the baby halted as she heard Miroku's voice.

_Kagome come back. _

"Miroku?" she was cut off as another heavy bundle dropped easily into her unoccupied arm. Looking down, she saw it was also a baby, wrapped tightly in what she recognized as Inuyasha's white inner kimono. Two babies in two arms.

_Kagome come back!_

It did not sound like the other voices. The other voices were sharp and clear, seeming to resonate in her brain. This one was distant and fuzzy. It reminded her of when she and Sota had bought a pair of walkie-talkies when she was younger. They worked really well all over the shrine property, but if you were to cross the street static would immediately bombard you. That was what this was like. Miroku was on a signal just out of her range.

"Copy, copy." She whispered unconsciously.

The baby in her left arm, the one in the white, wiggled and gurgled in her embrace. The baby in her right responded with another soft and graceful coo. Deciding to finish unwrapping the first baby, Kagome searched her mind for a crib and found a small bassinet behind her she could place the second one in until she finished with the former. Carefully, she slid her arm out from the baby and semi tucked it in with her free hand.

_Kagome, you hear me don't you?_

Miroku again, but now the baby in red wasn't moving, and Kagome felt panic for it's life begin to well up in her throat. She could hear more playful gurgles and chirps from the second baby in the bassinet, and wasn't in the least worried for it at the moment. The baby in her arms now was in the trouble. _Triage_, Kagome told herself. Help the one who needs the help first.

Unfolding layers of cloth, Kagome noticed the warmth from the infant that she had become accustomed to, was now freezing and assaulting her nerves. Her hand began to shake in hurried concern and the cold air radiating off the baby. Now she was so panicked, it was a wonder the red cloth didn't tear in her hands. Had it been made out of any normal fabric, it most surely would have been in shreds. Hissing sounds escaped her teeth as she clenched them in determination with her lips pulled back in a tight snarl. Her bow was drawn so tightly, she vaguely recognized the start of a headache approaching.

_The baby! Get the baby!_

I'm TRYING!

Kagome felt moisture in her eyes and she blinked her way back into focus as she tore at the endless layers of red cloth.

I…I can't get it off!

_Kagome,_ Miroku's voice called again through the hazy static.

"I can't come right now!" Shaking her hair out of her face, Kagome felt an unfamiliar urge to give up. Just give up everything. Hopelessness, it seemed, has strong reasoning skills.

_Kagome, dear. _It was her mother's voice once more. The calm sound from her first home filled her

(ears?)

and soothed her mind.

"Momma?" she began to cry as she felt the baby in her arms grow colder. Dropping her left arm to her side, she wept over what she was now sure was the body of her dead baby. "Momma I can't help my baby."

_Oh, oh, Kagome._ It was her mother's cooing chant she used when she rocked Kagome to sleep in her arms after stories of the boogieman frightened her. _Your baby isn't even in that red thing._

"Wh-what?" Kagome stared down at the bundle in her right arm. Out of sheer curiosity, she began to pull back the final covering over the face.

_Kagome!_ She jerked up to attention, interrupted from what she had been doing.

"Miroku?"

_Trust me Kagome, you don't want to see what is wrapped up in that. _

"You can hear me?"

_Yes! Kagome listen; don't even look at that thing in your arms. It's NOT your baby._

But, what about…

_Kagome_, her mother's voice whispered. _Look in the bassinette._

Kagome turned her head back to the infant wrapped in the white cloth. Inuyasha's inner kimono. Yes, didn't it make sense that her baby would be wrapped in Inuyasha's under clothes? They were much softer than the fire-rat robe, and…

She shook her head. It made no sense. It had no bearing at all.

_Yeah it does._

A wave of love and sorrow fell through her soul as she recognized her father's sweet murmur. It had been years, but she would never forget what his voice sounded like. Not with the rich baritone sound that seemed to possess the same lilt and texture as Inuyasha's. The only real difference between the two was that her father's voice had been deeper.

A breath hitched into her throat. "Daddy," Kagome dropped the red bundle to her feet.

_It does make sense, Baby. _The warmth from her father's memory filled her mind and cancelled out the cold from the "infant" forgotten at her feet. A warm blanket.

Kagome nodded and smiled as a strained tear slipped down her cheek. "Yeah I guess it does."

_Why did I always tuck you into my undershirt when you wanted to wear my clothes?_

Kagome felt a multitude of childhood memories and emotions return in a blink of an eye. "Because…" She held her breath. She would not screw up what time she had back with her father; even if it was really just the memory of her father in her own brain.

_Why honey?_

Kagome let go of her air. "Closer to your heart." She closed her eyes and a small sweet chuckle surprised her. "Of course. Inuyasha would do that kind of thing too."

_Kagome?_

She opened her eyes and looked

(up?)

to listen to her dad.

"Yeah?"

_Look at the other baby. _

Kagome blinked. "How is this possible?"

_It's my gift for you._

Kagome turned to the bassinette and plucked the white bundle from the crib. She held the baby in her arms and reached out to begin unwrapping it. She hesitated.

"Mine?"

No answer. She was alone with the two babies. Glancing back to the child in her arms, she heard a soft raspberry sound followed by a giggle. She could keep the smile stretching across her features down. Gripping the softer white cloth, Kagome began to unravel this happy sounding baby. There were only two layers before got a view of a small round face. The baby's eyes were closed and a small yawn left it from a big "O" shape of its lips. It was amazing how dark skinned the baby was and how plump its rosy lips were. A slight double chin was visible as the baby squirmed in mid-yawn. Its head was covered in feathery black hair and its ears were human, pulled down to the sides of the head.

Kagome wanted to say something, anything to this beautiful being in her arms, but she hadn't any words to express herself. She loved this baby already, even though it was just a preview.

The tiny infant in her embrace gurgled and suddenly popped open its eyes. Bright golden-amber tones peeked up at Kagome as she smiled in relief. Laughing at the sight of its mother, the baby threw out its arms to flap them out in front of its face in excitement. Kagome opened her mouth and laughed at her future child. Either from the bouncing created by its own movements or from its own excitement, the baby snapped its mouth shut and then a "pppppphhhhhiiiitt" erupting from its bottom followed.

Kagome wrinkled her nose at the smell, and then laughed so hard she nearly dropped her baby. "Are you trying to give me _proof_ of who your daddy is going to be? Because I think the eyes were enough."

The child launched into a fit of laughter and smiles exposing pink gums, nowhere near ready to be punctured through by tiny white teeth. Kagome found herself wondering if this tiny baby had tiny pointed fangs just waiting for a chance to break through.

"Hmmm, we could find out, huh?" She dug through the fabric in search of a tiny hand and instead found a foot. The white nails were still soft and tiny, but Kagome could make out slight points on all of them.

She sighed. "I just hope you aren't going to be as exasperating as your father."

A thought occurred to Kagome that she didn't know whether she held a baby boy or baby girl in her arms. She felt like smacking herself and saying "duhhhhheeee," but instead she lifted the cloth over the baby's tummy and peeked under it. She silently prayed it was a girl—not for her, but because she figured Inuyasha would get along better with a daughter. He had always been willing to open up to girls over boys. Then, she silently prayed it was a boy so it would be able to play with Shippo. And, she didn't want to admit this to herself, but she always wanted a boy. She loved helping to raise Sota, and now practically mothering Shippo was become natural to her. Boys, she concluded, were easier for her to handle. She finally decided that she wanted both at some point, then realized that she had been holding the child's "blanket" up and peeping under it to see its sex with her eyes shut. Another "duh" moment. Forcing herself to open her eyes, she pulled back with a squeal.

"A boy!" She cried out in delight.

_Kagome, please don't make me do this!_

Her wonderful mood was cut off as she turned in the direction of Miroku's stern voice. Her baby fell silent in her arms as he too felt the intensity in the man's voice. Then, feeling his mother's tension as she pressed him to her body in an instinctual response to danger, Kagome's son muffled out tiny wells of fright.

"Shhh, shh. It's okay, Baby." Kagome bounced the child in her arms to sooth him.

_KAGOME! GET THE HELL OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!_

"Inuyasha?" Kagome cried in surprise.

The boy, having noticed the other red bundle on the floor suddenly lash about in a frightening way, bawled out a loud shrill cry in his mother's ear.

"Ouch!" Kagome winced at the pain in her head. "What is it?" She whirled around on her heels and spotted what the baby had screamed about. The thing in the red cloth's face was no longer covered and large, black head glared at her with yellow slit-pupil eyes. It opened its mouth to hiss at her, revealing two long rows of clean, razor-sharp teeth.

_Kagome…_

"Kaede?"

_Drop the baby, Kagome._

"No! He won't have a chance!"

_Do it now, girl, or else ye will be stuck here forever!_

"But…" Kagome glanced down at her child, her baby. He giggled and a bubble blew out of his lips, which he stared at intensely cross-eyed.

_Kagome do it!_

"Inuyasha…" The baby's bubble popped and he blinked in surprise. Kagome felt her heart begin to weigh. "Hey little guy," she softly chimed to her son as the foul thing in front of her struggled to free itself from all the layers of haori. The baby responded to her voice and put his full attention on his mother. "You going to be okay? You going to come back and live with me after a while?"

The tiny infant giggled and clumsily reached out to his mother.

"I'll take that as a yes, just please come back to me. We have a lot of things to do."

_Kagome leave him. We'll get him back later._

"Okay, Inuyasha." Kagome bent and set the baby down. "See you later little guy."

Kagome began to back away from the child and felt relief as he vanished just as the lizard-child-thing in the red haori had freed itself and leapt toward him. The thing, surprised at a lack of victim, turned its face to her. It looked pissed, well that is if it could ever look ordinary it looked pissed now.

"I don't think so pal!" she cried in triumph. "You're not taking him away before I even get him!"

The black thing screeched and lunged at her, flying towards her with astonishing speed.

Then all was black.

And that's when Kagome woke up screaming.


	26. I Need Her

A/N: Sorry it's been a while and this is pretty short, but chapter 27 is already getting written as I type this. So, forgive me. Finals and all...Okay I got a question about why Kagome had to drop the baby in the last chapter. I was trying to show the connection she already has with her child even before he's born. If she hadn't dropped her baby she would not have left her own mind. Kinda like when a person can't forgive someone else. They can't really go on with their lives until they get that out of the way...I guess. Anyway, chapter 27 will show what happened outside of Kagome's mind. Thanks again all for reading and reviewing! XD Enjoy...

* * *

"I can't sit here and wait around any longer!" Inuyasha growled as he hosted himself up with a grunt. It had been hours! Too long!

"Inuyasha, control ye urge." Kaede commanded.

Inuyasha whirled around to face the old priestess. "No! Now I'm telling you hag; if you don't let me go get Kagome I am gonna personally come back here when dawn _finally_ breaks and slice you open just to stuff your guts full of those damned spell books and sew you back up!"

"Inuyasha!" Sango scolded. Kirara bristled at his tone as she sat next to the fire.

"Calm ye self, Inuyasha," Kaede again commanded, unaffected by his outburst.

He stood fully upright and turned to Sango. "Do not. Just don't even try it, Sango."

"Inuyasha?" Shippo piped up from beneath a blanket. He had scurried in and told his story of his mushrooms and Sango had wrapped him in this warm cloth to keep his shivering under control. Now he kneeled on all fours with his bushy head poked out from under the blanket to inspect the argument.

"_What_?"

Shippo flinched. Inuyasha was truly strained—he hadn't called Shippo a runt or anything in that breath. He simply snapped at him.

Inuyasha sighed and tried to regain composure as he watched the tiny fox demon's eyes grow moist. He walked over to the boy and crouched beside him, careful to avoid another pain in his side. The red-haired child cast his eyes down and stared at his hands.

"I'm sorry, Shippo." Inuyasha swallowed hard. _I guess it was all that mental preparation to be a father that's helping me to do this._ "What did you need?"

Shippo sniffed and felt himself clutch onto Inuyasha's haori against his will. Inuyasha sat still and placed a comforting hand on the child's head then patted.

"Now, now. Come on, thought you were a man?"

Shippo glared up at him. "I'm _trying_ to be! I'm _trying_ to be brave like you and Miroku and Sango!"

"Ahem," Kaede glanced up from her book and cleared her throat.

"And Kaede," Shippo added.

"Meow?"

"_And_ Kirara."

"Then what's this all about?" Inuyasha stopped patting his head. "Get yourself together."

"I'm trying! But I might have already lost Kagome! I don't want to lose you too!" The tiny boy cried into Inuyasha's arm.

Inuyasha felt himself in a very unfamiliar situation. He was stunned silent.

_Damn._

_What the hell do I do now?_

"Shhh," Inuyasha wrapped his arm around Shippo. "Shhh. I ain't going anywhere." The young man felt himself catch the child's face gently between his two palms, one hand placed on either cheek. The small fox-demon stared up at Inuyasha in surprise with the flow of tears abating for the moment.

The child sniffed and pulled himself together. "Inuyasha?" His voice quivered. "What are you doing?"

Inuyasha felt himself wiping Shippo's tears away with his thumbs. "Shippo, you know I'm not going anywhere, right?" The boy nodded and choked back more sobs. Inuyasha nodded. "But you know I can't lose her either…you understand that." Shippo closed his eyes as more silent crying pooled on his cheek.

Sango felt herself picking Kirara up and pulling her into a tight embrace. The small two-tail released a stiffed "meow" sound and let her body be crushed against her friend's shoulder.

Inuyasha kept his hands on Shippo's cheeks. "Shippo, I need to go after her. I need to save her. I…" he hesitated for the moment thinking, then continued, "…I need her."

Shippo managed to break through his sad desperation and a small smile formed on his mouth. He nodded and back out of Inuyasha's grasp, slightly embarrassed at his actions.

Inuyasha stood, glancing out the flap-door to see at the first bit of morning light approaching. "About time," he mumbled.


	27. OneSided Battle

A/N: Sory for this very long overdue update. Camps+writer's block+engagement+unengagement+computer virus+lifeslow update. It will not happen again lol. And the next chapter is already in the cooker. Thank you all for still having the intrest. Love ya.

* * *

Miroku backed into the wall opposite of the doorway, slipped on his own outer robe and fell backward peddling his arms for balance. Crashing backward into the wall, he felt his head smack the hard wood and faintly noticed the slight fuzziness in his vision. The cloth from his robe was puckered under his leg, the fabric bunched and tangled. He had not the faintest clue why he had been sent reeling backwards by his own body, but he suspected that the blurry female figure lying on her side in front of him had something to do with it.

He blinked at the cloudy texture in his eyes and was able to maintain focus to realize that the girl in front of him was in fact Kagome. She was laying twisted, in a position that looked very uncomfortable to Miroku. Her face was pressed into the floor with her waist contorting enough to have her bottom also rest on the floor, with both of her legs sprawled in random directions.

Hobbling up to his knees, the young monk placed his hand gently on Kagome's shoulder to turn her face-up to match the rest of her body. As she shifted over with his aid, she let out a harsh breath and her face pulled into a grimace as her body began to shake out of chill.

Reaching under himself, Miroku pulled is outer-robe over his nude companion to help keep her warm and to help keep his eyes from wandering her body curiously. He wrapped the dark purple robe around her and tucked it under her hips and shoulders to secure it. Once done, he crossed his legs and sat beside her, pulling his darker inner robe over his knees to keep his own legs from feeling the cold of the misty night.

His friend's face was flushed and sweet drops lingered around the temples, almost as if Kagome had a stomach sickness and just experienced a mild delusion period, rather than attempted sexual intercourse.

Miroku mumbled to himself and sighed as he blotted her face lightly with his sleeve. She mumbled a little at his touch and turned her face away from his gaze. Her eyebrows drew together and her face swung back around to meet his light touch with the cloth. She mumbled inaudible words into his hand and twisted her face and pulled it into a sour look, and then she turned her face away again.

Miroku pulled back a little at this small fit Kagome was experiencing, and she gripped onto his arm unconsciously. He grunted as he pulled himself free of her grasp. Her hands came up to his under robe's collar and began to pull gently at it, trying to remove the fabric.

"Kagome…" The young monk grunted seriously and blushed slightly, removing her hands by the wrists.

She halted instantly, as if in response to his voice. Miroku blinked and leaned in closer to her face to study her. Her brow, which had been drawn in tautly, was now smooth and unwrinkled. She turned her head to the sound of his breath as he glanced her over.

Opening his mouth he managed three words. "Kagome come back…"

Nothing.

He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead on her. No, it was too simple and easy. This would never—

"Miroku?"

Blinking, he snapped his head up to look at her face. She was still vague, and to all signs still unconscious, but he was sure he heard her say his name. It was possible. He felt himself growing tight and ready to spring into action, his body preparing for something his mind knew nothing of.

Placing his hand on either side of her face, he turned her to face him. "Kagome come back!"

He did not mean for it to sound so desperate, but he felt he had no control of his impulses.

She relaxed her face and her head lolled to the side. "Copy, copy."

The whisper from her sent him into a near-leap to the doorway to run for Kaede and Inuyasha, but he managed to keep himself still and concentrate on bringing her out of this state. Who knew? Perhaps by the time he would get to Inuyasha, Kagome might already have slipped back out of reality.

He lay her down and leaned over her on his palms. "Kagome, you hear me don't you?"

She jerked suddenly and twisted slightly, reaching out with her arms and peddling them in mid-air as if in a fit.

He sat up from her figure and looked through the door at the impending daylight. _Soon_.

He leaned back over her and spoke a little more sternly to calm her.

"Kagome."

The voice erupted violently, while the facial expression remained placid.

"I can't come right now!"

He felt breezes on his back, and when he looked up to the doorway, he had never been so happy to see Lady Kaede's old, bent figure, and Inuyasha's snarling face.


	28. The Pain of Awaking

A/N: Wow, two years. I must say that I have some real good reasons for not updating sooner, and I have some not-so-good reasons. One of the issues has been that I have not had a steady internet source in my home for over a year. Another is that I was in a major funk before with some huge life changes I had to face. In either case, I should have put forth the extra effort to finish this story as well as others. It is unfair to the readers that I have let this go too long and not very intelligent on my part on keeping those dedicated readers waiting.

Well, I am alive and well. I am ready to kick off some new ideas (but not until after "Dreams" is completely done) and now I have the support of certain family members and friends who I did not have before. Thanks to those people who have allowed me to get back to this.

* * *

There was screaming. 

Screaming. Raw colorless screaming reverberating off every thing of mass around her.

This awful screaming, this horrid control she was losing, all she could think to do was to cover her own ears against that terrible noise surrounding her.

Hell, if she had the a thought for a split moment that she might be forced to live her entire life like that—just hearing that familiar tonal braying—she would have slammed her head into the nearest blunt object at that moment. Luckily for her friends surrounding her, the idea did not cross her throbbing mind.

And there was a lot of fabric she was clutching onto.

Comforting colored fabric. This deep purple shade.

There were also comforting voices around her. "She's awake." "How does she look?"

Then, Kaede's voice—the sternest tone she had ever heard from the old priestess.

"Kagome, get up."

A hand reached under her arm and gently tried to pull her to a sitting position. Sango, her friend Sango was pulling at her, coxing her to join the rest of them.

She felt more tired than she had ever felt in her life. She not only wanted to remain on the floor, wrapped in these purple cloths, she felt she had no other option than that. Sitting would be nearly impossible. Standing or walking would take a pure miracle.

"I need to rest," she slumped against Sango's arm, out of breath.

"Kagome, there is no time. Ye need to get up with haste."

Inuyasha bent down into her view. "Don't worry, I'll carry you." He began to slide a strong arm under her shoulder when Kaede protested.

"No. She needs to get on her feet alone."

Inuyasha stood; ready to argue with the bent figure. "Why the hell does she have to do that?"

"Because she cannot fall asleep again."

Kagome turned her head in their direction. "What? Why not? For how long?"

"Because it is still lying within ye and it could take over again if ye were to sleep."

Miroku placed his hand on Inuyasha's shoulder to quiet him before his outburst. "Lady Kaede, we thought the demon would be gone after the exorcism."

The old woman looked at the monk with an indecipherable expression, then turned and began to exit the hut. "This way."

Kagome felt there was no way she would be able to pull herself off the ground with out some help. Looking up to ask for help from Inuyasha against Kaede's wishes, she found him already kneeling to provide a crutch for her from his shoulder. Leaning on him, she managed to get herself to her feet and hobble out of the abandoned hut with Miroku's outer robes still wrapped around her. Her abdomen burned with every movement, as if she had something within her womb kicking and clawing at the walls in protest to her excursions. She was sweating against the pain and Inuyasha seemed to sense her agony as he tried his very best to walk with as smooth of a gate he could muster. Kagome thought she had never seen him so graceful.

Looking up to the hunched minute mountain of a woman in front of her, Kagone licked her chapped lips and asked "Where are we going Kaede?"

"To my sister's grave site." The older priestess's stride never faltered.

Kagome blinked. "Beg your pardon?"

Miroku stepped forward, dragging Sango by the hand. Kagome vaguely wondered when this new step in their relationship had occurred just before a full blast of heat and pain ripped at her insides. She felt her muscles clench around that pain, adding pressure to it.

"Lady Kaede," Miroku inquired as he gained on her increasing momentum, "why are you taking us to Kikyo's grave."

"That's what I'd like to know," The young man at her side piped up.

"Oaf!" Kagome's knees let go beneath her and she slumped forward, the only thing keeping her from falling into the cold grass being Inuyasha's grip. "Oh help."

"Kagome?" Inuyasha's startled expression was barely visible to her. She heard everyone—even the older priestess—stop and wait for her next words.

She winced at the newer, sharper pain she felt lower in her abdomen. She bucked forward as she felt herself tighten in a wave around that pain, increasing the feeling suddenly. Digging her heals into the ground; she let all her weight become Inuyasha's responsibility. All she could do was wait for the swell of heat to die.

"Oh help…oh help…oh shit!" Kagome bit into her lip, barely noticing the puncture from her left canine.

"Lady Kae—" Miroku was interrupted by his friend's abrupt mouth.

"You better tell me what the hell is going on with her now!" He glared at the hag.

Kaede flinched as Kagome groaned again in pain. "She is expelling the demon from her body and the demon is fighting it."

"I'm what?" Kagome panted out through clenched teeth.

Sango released the monk's hand, running over to her friend's side to place a supportive hand on the underside of her bloated belly. The gesture was appreciated, but Kagome felt no relief at Sango's hands. Still, the touch alone gave psychological comfort and she managed to relax her muscles, lessening the intensity for a bit.

"Ye are in labor, your body's only way of driving out the lizard. The lizard will come out tired, but most likely unhurt. We will need expired remnants of the same spiritual facility as your own to kill the thing one outside of your body. Kikyo's soil should still hold some energy." The woman turned and began walking at astonishing speed for someone of her years.

Sango looked up at Kaede. "How long will it take?"

"From the sounds of it, Kagome may very well be on the verge of hard labor."

Sango nodded, understanding. Inuyasha however, did not.

"Hard labor?" He lifted Kagome into his arms foregoing the advice Kaede had given him earlier when he saw the twisted ruins of his love's face.

Sango brushed matted hair out of her friend's pained faces as she walked in time with Inuyasha. "Hard labor is the shortest and most intense part of birth. Kagome is hurting is from her stronger contractions preparing to push out the demon. She could deliver very soon."

Kagome grunted, "That's not all that's paining me." Her voice sounded like nothing within her normal tonal range, Inuyasha noted.

Miroku blinked. "What do you mean?"

Squinting her eyes completely shut, Kagome breathed out as another contraction hit.

"I think," she sunk her nails into Inuyasha's shoulder. "I think it's fighting me. I think it's tearing up my insides."


	29. Something Familiar

The wind had changed.

Really, the wind itself hadn't changed, it was too still of a morning for the wind to have enough strength to alter. Yet, there was a different sensation on the light breeze. One which told Kikyo she should pay attention soon.

Her grave was being trampled on.

This normally wouldn't bother her—hate for those who held no respect for the death was not a luxury she felt she could hold onto any longer. Especially since she now existed only from exploitation of said dead. And her sin was much worse, and much longer lasting than any grave robber.

But…it felt wrong. It was not like a grave robber to disturb the soil with the intent of—

Of what, exactly?

The pale woman turned her ear north, toward her grave and old home. Something familiar…

It was her sister. Her sister and the Kagome girl.

Why would her sister and her incarnation want to play around with her grave soil? Kikyo turned fully toward the direction she had been listening to and began to walk.

-

Sango had never seen so much blood.

Kagome's quick cries and harsh breaths resounded in her ear as she held her friend's hand, and watched idly as more blood stained the ground where the girl's legs parted. She was sure she had seen more blood than this before. Kagome's body couldn't hold the amount of blood she had seen a few times in rough battles. Sango was not afraid of blood, and she had seen her share of it. I the dirt, on metal weapons, on bones, and even on her own face when she'd come home at night and washed her daily ritual away.

Still, Sango felt she had never seen so much blood.

Kaede knelt hunched over Kagome's legs. Miroku sat slightly behind her handing her clean cloths and rinsing out red soiled ones to reuse. The bowl of water was nearly red itself, and now very cold when before it had been boiling. It seemed like a now futile attempt to keep Kagome as comfortable as possible.

Inuyasha…

Sango, the demon-slayer, sat up brushing against Kagome and felt his aura nearby, but she did not see him. He was also very faint in her mind's eye—as if he was far away. Inuyasha…

…well she didn't quite know where Inuyasha was.

-

Under gnarled brush he had never considered warm, he crawled.

The pain he felt was excruciating. He had never felt this before—he was sure he would break. Crack right down the middle from the stress of it. He had to find coverage and protect his ears from the sounds. The only thing close was this brush patch.

The sounds were doing this to him. Loud belting cries from Kagome just south of him made his ears twinge and sent a pulse down to his chest like a heavy gong might. It reverberated and shattered his ribs, so how was he still able to crawl so well? Even worse than the loud, harsh screams were the small, soft whimpers that occasionally filled the air. Thos sent small spines in through the previous damage from the loud sounds to shift and irritate his muscles and blood. This couldn't be possible. He'd never…

He looked up and sniffed at the air. That familiar scent…

Maybe he had felt this _once_ before.

He reached tentatively for Tetsusaiga on his hip, and instead grabbed a fistful of satin pink. He froze on his elbow and knee. His sword.

He suddenly had an image of Tetsusaiga propped up against the wall in the Higurashi's laundry room, where he was sure his fire-rat robe also sat nearby and folded neatly.

For the first time in years, he had absolutely no protection.

The faint scent wavered over his nose again.

No protection for who?

A new feeling inside was growing, and it was all too familiar.


	30. Seeing Red

Kagome clung to Sango's finger, sure in the back of her mind that she must be breaking it

Kagome clung to Sango's finger, sure in the back of her mind that she must be breaking it. Though she wished not to hurt her friend, she had no control of her body now. What clamped, clamped. She did not live within her own muscles now. She existed on a plane that fell between the sharp, blaze of pain and the dull, subdue gray of unconsciousness. She knew she was passing in and out of the gray area often, because she could feel the pain and feel the pain and feel the pain, then suddenly be jolted into nothing. No sound, no touch, but amazingly, the only place she found rational thought. Then always, she would be jerked from this resolve to feel Sango's finger in her grasp, Kaede's instruction to Miroku, the monk's praying and her own unadulterated voice. And suddenly she couldn't think.

She couldn't make sense of anything.

"Kagome?" It was Sango beside her, but she sounded wrong. She sounded very odd.

She heard herself quietly grunt four times before she felt that enormous pressure between her legs, and the kicking twisting motions of her womb.

"Kagome?" Still odd.

She clenched her teeth. "Why can't I see?"

She felt Sango shift her. Apparently, her friend was also holding her shuddering body up.

"Sango, why can't I see?"

The cool feeling of a hand was on her forehead. "Kagome…" Sango's throat clicked as she seemed to take a moment to figure out what she was going to say. "Kagome, your eyes are closed."

"What?"

Sango shifted and sat her up more. "Open your eyes, Kagome."

She did.

And closed them promptly, remembering why she had them screwed shut in the first place.

Her body was falling apart. She was sure of it. Red covered her vision when she opened her eyes. Stronger red yet covered Kaede and Miroku up to their elbows, across both their chests, and into their laps as far down as she could see. Miroku, his skin usually immaculate, even bared a red smudge across his cheek under his left eye.

She watched as the monk rose, stretching between immediate need for him, and stoop back down to hand Kaede a stained cloth. He was red. Kaede was red. Kagome craned her head up and back slightly, cricking her neck horribly to view Sango. The slayer's face and the world around it were completely red, though there was no cloud. No haze. She could see every detail, every line of her friend's features, which screwed into a twisted expression at the sight of Kagome.

"Kagome…" It was a small breath from her friend, barely a word.

"Why are you red?"

Sango looked up and past her and called out "Miroku!"

She heard the sounds of sandals scraping along dirt, quickly trying to stand and reach the women. She then saw as Miroku bent down on one knee and looked into her eyes. He touched under her chin lightly, and Kagome raised her face to allow him better sight. His expression remained set, but his eyes dimmed slightly. Kagome noticed his hair was loose and wild, blood smeared at his temples from rushed adjustment. He just studied her.

Sango spoke up from behind her. "It's not a—"

"No," Miroku cut her off. Something he very rarely did. "It's not a clot in the brain. Just a popped vessel I believe."

Kagome was between contractions and paining enough to understand what her companions were talking about. Sango had thought she had a stroke. Miroku knew it was just a popped blood vessel.

"In my eye?" Kagome rasped.

Miroku nodded. "It will heal and clear up to normal in time."

Sango's expression normalized and Kagome could fell her friend's face press into her shoulder. She thought she heard her murmur "completely red…"

* * *

All he could see was red as he stood from the brush and leapt quickly into a low hanging tree branch. He felt his sharper, longer claws bite into his palms as he held himself steady—he wouldn't let it take him over fully—this time he could not lose control. Gaining ground with his own mind, he calmed slightly and felt his fangs leave his lips as his claws shifted back to give his skin relief. _You can do this. You can withstand this. Get back to the group before she finds them_ But, his body dropped limply into the trunk of the tree, wishing to hide from those whimpers he could still vaguely hear from Kagome and the scent of the woman approaching who looked like her.

_You need to get some guts. Look at what Kagome is going through, and all you have is self-pity. Grow up pup. _

He closed his eyes against this idea. It reminded him of his brother. There was no reason to use him as a distraction from what mattered.

_Grow up pup._

For the love of—he could practically smell the ass now. He opened his eyes and sniffed at the air. Ah…fuck.

* * *

He had heard the screaming from his camp seven miles away. Or, perhaps he had been on a walk with Rin a bit closer than that, but he would say seven miles. It would help his image as powerful leader if he allowed for the hearing range distance to be wider. No matter. He had heard the sounds and had sent Rin back to the camp while he went to investigate. Not that he cared much about human suffering, it was below him, but he was curious and he was still young enough to seek out answers on a whim. He hadn't heard such prolonged cries from an adult human in so long—

He was stunned when he saw it was Inuyasha's bitch. She seemed to be in the throws of whelping, but even Sesshomaru could see that there were excessive amounts of blood and carrying on from the woman. The smell was completely wrong too. This was all fresh blood, not older mixed fluids that should come with a birth.

And where was his half brother? Why was he not here with his woman? Sesshomaru was sure it must be his pup, or whatever it was that was causing such a disturbance. The woman even smelled heavily of Inuyasha himself (through the smell of the blood and the other humans, of course). So where was he? Despicable. The older brother felt himself grow red with anger at his irresponsible younger counterpart. Though he had little respect for his half brother, he never expected Inuyasha to remove himself from such a situation—for whatever reason. It was unacceptable. You breed with a bitch, you stay around for the pups.

He made it his job to find the whelp himself and forcefully put him back there with his woman, if that is what it took.

"Grow up pup." Sesshomaru had snuck up on him. It would never have normally happened, but with what he was going through…

Inuyasha jumped down from the tree. "What the hell do you want?" He didn't even have the emotional strength to be angry at his brother for showing up.

The tall ivory demon before him stood still for a moment, stoic as usual, then moved his remaining arm and pointed in a direction.

"Your female is whelping and you are not there. This is unacceptable."

Inuyasha blinked, at a loss for what to say. It was the last thing—no—the only thing he didn't expect from his brother at the moment.

"Excuse me?"

The figure lowered his arm and stepped forward. "I should not have to repeat myself."

Inuyasha opened his mouth for something trivial, and then closed it before he spoke. He had nothing. This was one request from his snooty brother that was worth listening to.

"I can't face it."

Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow.

"I can't."

The older brother sighed, his stone features giving in momentarily. "You realize I will place you there myself if need be." He waited—contrary to popular belief, The Lord had multitudes of patience. Inuyasha nodded slowly after a moment, then Sesshomaru spoke again. "I would not have expected this from even you." The boy only looked away. "You are aware that you should be with her now. I will wait here with you until you have come to your senses and rejoin her."

Inuyasha looked up at his brother who did not move and didn't look as if he was going to any time soon.

"Is this a threat or moral support?"

"Call it whatever you like. It should have the same results either way."

And after a while, Sesshomaru achieved his desired results when Inuyasha headed toward the whimpers of Kagome.


	31. Not to Interfere

The priestess who held a certain blue light around her had heard such screams before. They were in fact unnervingly familiar. She had even uttered a few cries of that nature herself once, long ago. Before she became what she was now.

She knew it was the other girl. The dog's other. And, though she was curious as to the development speed of the fetus, Kikyo none-the-less decided not to involve herself in the process. Some time ago, she might have shown up, simply to act as an omen of bad luck. The dead arriving to usher in a birth would bode terrible fortune for the child. And, although Kikyo was embittered toward her old companion, she did not wish to cause harm to a child unnecessarily. No—she had done that too numerous times already.

No more children would be lost as a result of her actions.

So, rather than turning north, Kikyo headed west to another village she was most welcome in.

* * *

A/N: To all who still read this, thank you. bows It means the world to me. The next chapter is half-written, so it is on the way. This was short, but it felt like it's own place.

The ending to this story is in sight...and not too far off in the distance. Completing this will compile the struggle over last few years of my life into one proof. The delays have been terrible, and utterly provided me with guilt to last. I hate leaving any writing unfinished. I esspecially find it aweful if others are good enough to read said writing.

So, to those who still read: you have seen a story arc, yes, but you have also witnessed the author's life arc over the past few years--however cheesey that sounds. Thank you for being more true to this story than I was.


	32. Brother's Knowledge

A/N: Thanks for the swift comments. I remember now why this was so much fun to write.

To Japanime625: Thanks, I plan on going through and fixing some typos and bad spelling on my part after the completion. Thanks for the support.

To Inuyashalover28, whitetiger-isabella, Forest Sentry Koneji, nomdeplume1313, Kurinju-Sama, Godess of the Moon, and all the others: that's so awesome you still read and review. Thanks bunch. Feel free to crit.

* * *

As he came upon the labor site, a very hot glow erupted.

He winced, and heard a grunt from behind him. His brother must have also felt the sting from the flash of light. Shielding his eyes, Inuyasha painfully searched for his companions. He could make out a few shapes, two taller than one large heap in the center. Squinting his eyes, he was able to form Miroku's profile in his view. He seemed to have his head bowed with his hands on something. The half-demon could barely hear prayers and mantras under the monk's breath. After a moment, ne noted that the old Kaede also stooped, in a similar position, though he could hear nothing from her.

His brother stepped into his view, intent upon the site before him.

"Why—" Sesshomaru was silenced by a rasping cry from the figure under Miroku's hands. He blinked, taken aback by the sound. He felt himself growl low. Perhaps he was taking on a respectful protective streak with his family line after all. But Inuyasha figured it was just from the sudden pressure in the air from the lively spiritual energy.

"Why are the humans exorcising the babe?"

His ears fell to the side. "It's not our kid."

The older silver-haired tilted his eyes toward his brother. No movement of his head, but the eyes just the same. Without a double-take he asked "An anole?"

Inuyasha looked down to his hands, which he found had begun a fight amongst themselves for dominance—it would seem. That must be why they were twisted so absurdly tight around one another…

He had no idea what his brother asked. He hated to admit it, but he didn't seem to have the vast knowledge his bother possessed that came with centuries of living.

"What's that?"

The Lord set his eyes back on the light before the two and said without lecture "an anole is a name for the lizard."

Inuyasha blinked and looked back up to him. "You know about this?"

The other male nodded with just a small bob of his head. Inuyasha gaped. After all this time his stupid bother's usefulness shows through.

"Can you help?"

Studying his brother, Inuyasha noted a small change in Sesshomaru's eyes. Perhaps he imagined it—in fact in all likelihood he had—but it looked like just for a second there was a change in sheen. Like an escalation in moisture level. Maybe.

"I cannot." The tall demon then turned suddenly enough for his robes to fly out behind him and began to walk away.

The younger jumped in surprise and built-up stress and grabbed for his brother's hand before he even realized what he was doing.

The white-haired man stopped at the immediate touch and craned his neck around to glare at the boy who laid his hand on him. He growled and his eyes grew red. His claws twitched and dug into the tan flesh against his. Inuyasha held back a yelp—it really did hurt, and he was sure the bastard would soon release his poison if he wasn't careful. He eyed him respectfully, biting his tongue.

"Whelp, there had better be an exquisite grounds for your physical contact with me right now. Not to mention that you are also deliberately detaining me."

He held on but remained patient enough to keep his claws off Sesshomaru's skin. "I…I need help." _Oh for the love of…_ "Please?"

The man before him raised his eyebrow slightly, and then released his hold on Inuyasha's hand. The boy inwardly gasped relief at this action, but outwardly waited for his brother to respond.

Lowering his arm, Sesshomaru silently shook off the contact. "You must be desperate."

"Why because I touched you?"

"Because you kept yourself resigned."

Inuyasha felt his eyes try to roll. He resisted.

After a moment, the older demon glanced back at the scene before them and lowered his shoulders slightly. "It is painful. I remember that much." Before Inuyasha could ask about "remember," Sesshomaru turned his body to him. "It won't be over when it is gone from her. It can live even after that."

Inuyasha felt horror sinking in…and anger. Always anger.

"The exorcism will not destroy the creature, but it will weaken it. The anole is part organic, like you. It needs to be extinguished with both the spiritual as well as the physical."

He turned his ears in the direction of the light as he heard another cry from Kagome. His guts churned. "What kills it?"

Shaking his head, Sesshomaru appeared slightly sorry for his lack of knowledge on his part. "I do not know. When we hunted them we had a powder that was already made up for it."

"When you hunted?"

The older man turned away and started to walk into the forest. "Father hated those creatures. The anole killed many humans he cared for. Personal vendetta I would say."

He was almost too far now to smell him, but he could still hear him—faintly.

Inuyasha raised his voice and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Where did the old man get the powder stuff?"

He was sure his bother hadn't heard him at all, and slumped his shoulders in defeat. But, after a moment a soft voice drifted up from the woods—one that if he had even been already walking toward Kagome he would have never heard.

"We bought the powder from a fox demon shaman."


	33. Break: Synopsis

Since the story has gone untouched for a while, then suddenly picked back up recently, I have received a request for a synopsis of the overall plot. Which, I felt was an excellent idea.

Since I hate dead chapters, I thought I'd try to make it funny. We'll see if I get there.

Now…who haven't I spoken too for some time?

Kouga!

* * *

KOUGA: Hey there.

WANTING MEMORIES: OH! Kouga! I haven't seen you around for some time.

K: That's because you rarely give me any page time. You know, I once played Hamlet at the Kennedy Center?

WM: Really? Wow…I guess I have been taking you for granted on the show. Sorry, it just seemed like you played a pretty two-dimensional character in the anime—

K: Yeah I know but you can only do so much with what you are given…

WM: Yeah…

K: Yeah.

WM: So…you up to date on "Dreams" then?

K: Nah. Read the first chapter and it didn't really appeal to me the way "Those Eyes" did. So, what chapter are you up to?

WM: Well, I just posted chapter 32.

K: Wowza! Getting along there, aren't you?

WM: Actually, I left it sitting cold for about two years.

K: That's rather cruel to the readers isn't it?

WM: We've already covered it, okay? Now I'm back on tract and close to finishing, so it's all better.

K: Still it was kinda a douche bag move don—

WM: Okay, okay! We get the idea.

K: Sorry…so what's happening with the gang?

WM: Uh…well…Kagome and Inuyasha slept together one night—

K: WHAT?! Kagome let that mutt-face—

WM: No! Not lemons in this story! There was no hanky panky…they just slept.

K: Well…alright then.

WM: So, Kagome and Inuyasha slept together, and then they thought she was pregnant—

K: Hold on, I thought you said they weren't intimate.

WM: They didn't have sex, but they wondered if they did and forgot because she had the symptoms and took a test and it was positive.

K: You can take a test?

WM: How is it you managed to play Hamlet at the Kennedy Center and have no clue about pregnancy tests?

K: Never mind, just go on.

WM: Okay. So, Inuyasha and Kagome thought they were pregnant and they were dealing with that shocker, then they found out that Kagome actually had a parasite in her uterus (rather than intestines) which only made her seem pregnant. Inuyasha got an anatomy lesson.

K: An anole?! Kagome has an anole?

WM: Calm down. Yes, unfortunately they did find out that it was a lizard demon after the doctor from Kagome's time tried to treat it with typical worming meds. The Anole became more powerful and managed to gain control of Kagome and caused her to jump Inuyasha during his human night.

K: Trying to procreate.

WM: Right, because the Anole has its eggs which can remain dormant while she is. Their prime place to lay the eggs is in a human uterus. And the hatchlings' prime food is a human fetus. So it was trying to get Kagome pregnant for real.

K: The anole suck. We all hated them. Just so underhanded. They don't need to practice birthing like that.

WM: No, they don't. But it's optimum, and this anole is the last or one of the last of her kind, so she is bound to be taking the most care possible.

K: You sound like you are defending her.

WM: Hardly, I would never approve of one species torturing and eating the offspring of another species without need. But, I understand why the anole is doing it.

K: Yeah…

WM: So Kagome tired to jump Inuyasha to mate, but he caught onto the trick—

K: Amazing he was smart enough…

WM: Be nice. So he ran away from her, because she was doing some damage to him in his human form, and ran into the bone-eater's well. After there, Inuyasha ran for cover and to warn the others. Shippo was attacked by Kagome, but he made out okay with the help of his mushrooms—anole seemed to hate them.

K: They do.

WM: Mhm. So, Inuyasha, worried that Kagome might hurt another human (an also worried that she might sleep with someone), sent Miroku to distract Kagome long enough for him to regain normal form and Kaede to get ready with an exorcism. Kagome of course tried to jump him, and Miroku held her a bay. Now, Miroku and Kaede are exorcising it, Kagome's body is trying to reject it the way it would normally try to reject a failed pregnancy—she's in labor. The anole is fighting to remain inside Kagome and in control. And, Inuyasha just found out some information about what might kill an anole.

K: My head is spinning.

WM: I was gonna try to give you the whole synopsis in one long sentence, but you kept interrupting.

K: Good thing I did or else my brain would be swimming.

WM: Well there it is.

K: Cool, now I don't have to read it.

WM: Hey!

K: Just fooling with ya. Now, are you going to have a story with me in it soon?

WM: Uh…yeah but I dunno if you are gonna like it.

K: Why not?

WM: Weeeell…the thing brewing in my head is something that could turn into a yaoi fic.

K: Ahhh…fuck.

* * *

Thanks so much. I'm going away for the weekend to the National Story Telling Fest. After I come back, I begin prompt work on the next "Dreams" installment.


	34. Luck

A/N: Sorry this again took a while. I got married, moved into a new (old) house, stared a new job, and had a major computer virus. The good news is that I've already started the next chapter.

Thank you again to the faithful readers.

* * *

Gasping, Inuyasha flung himself through the dense brush to reach the birth—or slaughter—site. He was sure he had never run so fast in his life, and although it was a short sprint, if felt like it took twice as long as it should have.

"Where did we leave Shippo?" He nearly screamed as he skidded to a stop in the sacred dirt, his toes digging deep trenches behind him.

The strong coppery smell overwhelmed him before the scene did. It snapped his head back on his neck and he felt himself catch himself with his palm behind his torso, supporting him from the ground. He could feel the tension and the scents around him seep into his eyes, and he forced himself to focus. He blinked and his orbs returned to their normal amber hue.

"Inuyasha?" Sango peeped from over Kagome's shoulder. She had never left her friend.

He looked in her direction, purposely avoiding his gaze falling on the girl in front of the slayer. If he looked now, he wouldn't even finish his words.

"Sango!" He hulled himself up to his knees. "Where is Shippo?"

She blinked, unsure she had heard him correctly, then spoke slowly. "I-I think we left him at Kaede's." She looked as if she was now convinced something had snapped within the half-demon's head.

"I need to go find him now."

"Inuyasha?"

He glanced down to the weak female voice he had heard so many times before. So familiar, yet nothing like Kagome.

She lay propped against Sango's chest, pale, sweaty, and blood-covered from nearly the waist down. He flinched away as he noticed a single eye was covered in red. Avoiding her lower half in his gaze, he strained to keep his eyes on her tired face. He crept forward and touched her hand, she in turn grasped his weakly.

"The pain—" It would be stupid, so simply stupid to ask what was in his head. _Is it bad?_

Sango stepped in, understanding. "We are giving her a break. So is the lizard, it would seem."

The silver hair bobbed as he nodded, lost for comforting words. Looking down at her hand in his, he felt at least a small portion of strength left within Kagome. It was reassuring for him, and he felt guilty for focusing on his comfort rather than hers. He lowered his cheek and traded his hand for it, resting her sweetly palm against his warm skin. She smiled at him—how did she have the will to smile?

Shippo. He needed Shippo. "I need to find that fox."

Miroku spoke up then, as he rinsed his hand and face with cool water from a small nearby stream. "Why do you need to find him, Inuyasha?"

"He might—" he paused, thinking. What could hope could Shippo provide other than a small chance. He's a fox demon, but certainly no shaman. He was also too young to probably have and knowledge on the subject what-so-ever. So what was he looking for Shippo?

"Inuyasha?"

"Sesshomaru said that when he and the old man used to hunt the lizards they had to use spiritual energy, but also some physical powder from a fox demon shaman."

Miroku stared at him, hands mid splash on his face. "Fox demon shaman?"

Inuyasha slumped, and pulled away from Kagome's hand. She seemed to have fallen into a light sleep now that her attacker had taken a short break.

"That's what he said." Inuyasha felt his face droop. Maybe the asshole had lied to him.

Miroku wiped his face and carefully spoke. "Well, maybe that is so, but that doesn't mean that our little Shippo has any such knowledge."

"I know. I just thought we might have a chance." He rolled onto his back and covered his eyes with his forearm. It was useless.

"What was the powder made from, Inuyasha?" It was the first time Kaede had spoken since he'd dashed onto the scene.

Inuyasha groaned with his arm still over his eyes. "He didn't know. He said it was already mixed before he got it."

He felt the weight of his limb pressing down on his sight and let himself begin to drift away, thinking of better times. Miroku and Sango's squabbles. Shippo and Kaede annoying the crap out of him. Sleeping out under the stars for the first time not alone. Kagome's house. Eating all he could. Never starving. Playing with her in that shower thing. Kicking around the ball with Souta. Kagome's cat hanging by his fat feet. He smiled slightly despite the situation around him. He had never had a family before, now he had two. One in his time and one in Kagome's.

The Kaede spoke up one last time. "Fox demon shaman tend to utilize what they have access to. Their surroundings, their charms, even their own bodies."

"Charms?" At his shout, Inuyasha uncovered his eyes and sat up. Miroku was digging into his robes frantically, seemingly without rational.

The half demon sat up. "What are you doing, Monk?"

The monk's hair was a mess and his robes splashed with crimson, but the man's eye's were suddenly bright as he pulled a clumpy handful of something from within his sleeves. He held them out to Kaede as if he were a young child who had just completed a difficult craft project. She studied the contents of his palms, and a clarity came across her face.

She pulled some of the stuff into her hands—mushrooms? Inuyasha blinked. Mushrooms? He stood quickly and ran over to the two spiritual leaders, only just catching the end of the priestess' quiet statement.

"…should do fine." She turned away and rounded a pot, where she knelt and put a hand full of fungi in a small wooden bowl. Beginning to crush the charms with a small club-like stirring stick, Kaede muttered some words under her breath.

Inuyasha stood stunned. It never worked out like this for him. He glanced to Miroku and Sango, who was holding a now dozing Kagome. Sango sat straight as if she were perched on a branch, watching the scene unfold. Miroku smiled wide and stood beside Inuyasha. The half-demon looked at him in disbelief.

"How did you know?"

The monk eyed him with a bit of a smirk. "Shippo, coincidentally enough."

The dog shook his head. "I can't believe it."

"He said it scared her off before when the lizard was in control. Told me to hold on to them."

Inuyasha nodded, dazed at the luck. "Smarter than I give him credit for."

Miroku nodded and Inuyasha could almost read his thoughts in his eyes. _Me too._


	35. Gone

The end was in sight. That's what she had to keep telling herself, or else she'd never make it through.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha flicked his fingers in front of her eyes to get her attention. Through the cloud of red she could see his worried expression.

She gritted her teeth and held on to Sango's thigh. "I'm good. Still with ya."

He looked relieved. She must have sounded more convincing than she thought. She heard Sango speak calmly into her ear that she had to keep pushing. The deal was this: she'd push really hard for a few moments—about fifteen seconds—then she'd break for about thirty seconds. It was a good break; she knew it was more than fair on her part. The fact that she was no longer bleeding like nuts was encouraging (she knew this not because she remembered much from before, but because Miroku told her so). She also felt sharper, clearly aware that there was no fighting inside right now. And that was why they were trying so hard for her to evacuate now. Before the thing regained strength.

She gripped Sango's thigh—_the woman will be limping for a month_—Kagome thought. She gripped, and she held herself propped up with her other hand. She gripped, she propped, and she pushed. Bear down. That's what they say on all those shows. Bear down.

And it was like bearing down. Not in the sense that she could feel her inside pushing in a downward motion—no. But, it was because she could feel the thing—what would normally be a baby on any sane TV show—bearing down on her cervix. She pushed and she groaned deeply as she did this, her voice growingly steadily more hoarse by the minute.

Break. She leaned into her friend's support and looked around her. Miroku kneeled between her legs, looking running his slippery fingers along the lips and walls of her vagina. She couldn't even feel the touch anymore as he stretched her just a bit more, and tried to make what was to come more bearable for her. She was numb down there, and she wondered vaguely if it was due to cut off circulation, overwhelming pain, or something Kaede maybe mixed up for Miroku to apply. She didn't care, she hardly noticed him there anymore. A presence and touch which would have called for a complete beating any other day, was now as common place the feel of Sango's arms around her shoulders.

Kaede waited to the side keeping watch, but not participating. Her main job would be after the thing came out—if it ever did. She held the small bowl of powder in her tree-bark hands and just stared quietly at the process.

Inuyasha crouched just along her hipline, too far up to see anything Miroku was now very familiar with. She was thankful for that. He was probably the only person she would really object to seeing her down there right now. Instead of gawking at something he had no experience with, he kept a clawed hand lightly on her bulging gut, and spoke to her softly. He told her all he could remember of stories from his childhood. Stories his mother told him. About demons, brides, heros—male and female alike, and his father. Kagome could only hear a few seconds of each story here and there, but the vocals were constant and soothing.

"Push now, Kagome." Miroku's tone held a stern quality that increased with each push. He was stern, but not cold.

She pulled herself back up and gripped Sango's thigh and pushed.

This time she felt that "bearing down" feeling even stronger, and she yelped as she felt her body tighten around a large object. Inuyasha's words paused, and Miroku bent slightly as he said "don't stop now." She could feel it. Dear _Buddha_ she could feel it! She could feel everything as it pressed against her cervix and pushed her open against her pushing. It pulled grotesquely against her as she yielded to its mass; opening. It had to have been at least twice the size of the dilated opening. How the hell was it gonna get out?

"Push more Kagome."

"I'm losing it…" She felt herself pulling back, the strength of her push ebbing, and the force on her body lightening. Miroku grabbed her around the knee and jerked on her leg. She slipped forward slightly.

"No. Keep pushing now, or else you'll have to start all over again!" Miroku was practically shouting at her.

She never heard that on TV. Was he full of it? She pushed forward with Sango's help and gripped again and pushed. She caught it. She felt a horrible stretch and suddenly another whole new pain as the form pushed past her cervix, and plowed downward. She could vaguely hear the monk in front of her saying something like "please don't tear, please don't tear," but she couldn't feel anything where he was. Everything was _inside._ Nothing mattered that could feel the air.

Suddenly her legs were gone. She could see Miroku holding them up, but they were gone to her. She couldn't feel her legs and she had nothing _but_ pain everywhere else.

Miroku slipped her right leg over his left shoulder, so the knee hooked onto him, and he dropped her other leg gently to the ground. She was still spread, but he had both hand free. "Good don't stop." He said as he moved closer to her.

"It hurts…"

Miroku nodded and looked at her as he held onto something between her legs. He looked truly sympathetic. She guessed he could _see_ better than anyone how much pain she was in.

"It hurts."

"I know." He nodded again with her leg propped over his shoulder. "But, part of it is out. Can you push just a bit longer?"

She laid her head on Sango's chest and took in a deep breath. She nodded and moved forward to a better position. "Yeah, let's do it."

This time when she felt the awful stretch, she felt a sudden relief following closely behind it. She felt the release as it finally evacuated from her womb fully and she felt the tears pouring down as Miroku, who was right there with her, jerk his arms back and moved away from her quickly with something in his grasp. "Kaede, I have it," he said.

Kagome collapsed on her friend and she felt Sango adjusting so she could rest her head in her lap. "Thank you" she muttered as she felt some remaining after birth slip away from her. Tears flowed freely as she felt a male body beside her, wrapping an arm around her. Inuyasha rested his head on Sango's lap as well in order to be level with Kagome. She glanced up at Sango, who didn't seem to mind at all, but was stroking her friend's sweaty hair with tears in her eyes.

She meant to stay awake. She wanted to watch the thing that had caused so much hell for her as it died. But she couldn't. Within seconds, Kagome was nearly comatose in her sleep.


	36. Death of an Anole

It was a very odd felling for Miroku to grip so tightly to the birthed creature. Under normal circumstances, he would gently hold the prize in his arms. Cradling and gentile. This time his hands pushed around the slippery being so tightly, he saw his fingertips disappear into its sides. He wanted no chance of it squirming away from him. He wanted to kill it. He couldn't imagine how Inuyasha felt.

The thing was not ugly, which surprised him. It was smooth skinned—and it was like skin, rather than scales—and tucked neatly into a coil in his hands. It was either dead or nearly head, because there was no movement, no heart beat, no sound from the thing. With its tail curled tightly around its head, the anole seemed almost innocent. Almost like a baby. But Kagome's blood was coated along its exposed claws and skin, bringing complete repulsion back to the monk. Holding it out to Kaede, Miroku felt like he wanted to twist its neck.

The old woman's gnarled hands worked quickly as she started muttering under her breath a prayer Miroku barely remembered. He joined in; matching her tone beat for beat, but kept his attention on the seemingly vanquished lizard. Then the old priestess cupped a handful of the powder, and tossed it almost casually onto the anole in his hands.

That was when it came alive. The monk felt himself instinctually dig his fingers in more as it suddenly began arching and squirming away. It lashed out, scratching at his wrists, the back of his hands, his beads, and nearly pulling them away from the deadly hole in his right hand. It thrashed and bucked as Kaede again flung another handful of the mushroom powder at it. It bit into Miroku's knuckle, but he held it fast even as he saw small drops of blood run down his palm.

He could feel its anger. It coursed through his mind and nerves. So much hate and anger, but not toward Kaede or Miroku. It was at the world. It fell around him and coated him like a horrible bitter after taste. And what came with it was sorrow. The thing was the last of her kind, or so far as she knew, and this was the end of them. She bit and arched away from his grip, but he could feel her weakening physically as Kaede chanted and tossed powder on her. She weakened physically, but the fire and coat along Miroku's skin didn't subside. It grew in magnitude, and until her very last movement, tormented Miroku almost enough to feel sorry for her. Then he felt the emotion drop from him, as if tied to a heavy boulder that was just pushed over a cliff.

Miroku snapped his hands back from the body, and let it fall to the ground with a thud.

"Forgive me," he muttered as he stood and stepped over the small body before him.

Kagome lay before him, wide open and exposed. From the outside she didn't look much different than any other woman after a hard birth. Kagome had even managed not to tear, amazingly enough, and that was unusual. Whether she was torn outside or not, Miroku had little doubt about the condition of her insides. She was surely severely damaged on the inside, and probably bleeding profusely. He could do nothing for her. She would either pull out of it, or she would bleed to death internally. He couldn't reach inside her.

Miroku then looked to Inuyasha, who held the sleeping Kagome as he too rested his head on Sango's lap. He could have been asleep with his eyes closed and how still he was, but the monk knew better. Sango touched his ear lightly, and it flicked away.

"Inuyasha." The boy opened his eyes. "Inuyasha, you need to take Kagome home."

"Are you nuts?" He sat up, seemingly slightly embarrassed at where he had been laying. Maybe he had dozed off.

Sango looked down to Kagome. "He's right. They can heal her better in her time."

Inuyasha shook his head. "No way. They won't know how to deal with this."

"Inuyasha." Miroku spoke sternly to his friend. "Kagome could be bleeding to death, and we have no way to help her here. Her time has better medicines."

The dog boy sat wide-eyed.

"You will take her to her home and tell her mother what happened. She will know who to send for."

Inuyasha nodded quietly and gingerly bent to pick up his broken love. He held her cradled in his arms as Sango stood to help wrap the disheveled robe around her more securely.

"Bring her back safe," she whispered. The silver hair bobbed as he nodded.

He was gone before Miroku could say the same.


	37. White

White.

She knew there was white surrounding her, and she was sure she had died. After all that, she didn't make it. She sighed, and realized that if she was breathing, she doubted she was in the afterlife. The feel of bumping movement below her and the distinct sound of a squeaky wheel also indicated to her that she was probably not lifeless, but in fact in a brightly lit hospital.

Her gurney had a squeaky wheel. She thought about this as she watched the bright florescent lights glide over her vision as she held her eyes open to the building's ceiling. She thought about how distracting that wheel was. It was annoying and didn't anyone else care to oil it? A flash of white hair, nearly as luminescent as the electrical fixtures she was focused on, brushed into her vision shortly before a gruff voice asked how she was feeling.

Her throat cracked as if she had been asleep for a very long time. "Fuzzy."

She felt her neck creek as she turned her head to place Inuyasha into her gaze. He followed along beside the gurney, easily side-stepping with the nursing staff though the corridor. He was dressed in jeans and a tee shirt with a ball cap hiding his ears. At least someone had the sense to dress him and conceal his identity from the world, and she doubted Inuyasha himself would have bothered on his own.

When he noted her looking at his clothes he huffed and squinted his amber eyes. "These pants are too tight."

One of the nurses over her opposite shoulder chuckled, and Kagome craned her neck to see who she was. It was a middle aged woman in purple scrubs with grey peppering her deep brown hair. From the look in her eyes, Kagome could tell she had been having a lot of fun listening to the dog demon complain though her stay. As she turned to smile at the girl she was attending to, Kagome knew she liked her.

"Am I alright?" The question was directed at the nurse she had been observing.

The woman steadied her eyes to meet hers. "You needed a transfusion and some patching up in surgery, but you are doing better than anyone would have hoped."

"I've been in surgery?"

She nodded. "You were out cold, and you are being wheeled to recovery now. The anistisia wore off a bit sooner than normal." She laughed, "but hey, at least you didn't wake up in the middle of closing you back up!"

Kagome shivered a little. "Does that happen often?"

"Rarely." The nurse turned a bit so she could see in front of her as they rounded a corner into a room with several divider curtains. Kagome felt herself guided behind one of these and watched as another nurse pulled back the curtain to close her up.

Inuyasha grabbed her hand as soon as the gurney was in place and she heard locks clicking into place to stabilize her ride into a temporary bed. "What's my status medically? I'm not too stupid, so I don't need it dumbed down too much."

The brown haired nurse who she had spoken with before chuckled at that. "You had multiple severe lesions along the inside of your uterus. A few of those actually punctured through and they had to go in and stitch those up." She felt the half-demon's grip tighten on her hand as the nurse adjusted the IV then looked back to the two. "You lost one ovary," to this news she truly looked sympathetic but continued on to reassure her patient. "But, that doesn't mean you are infertile. Your other ovary seems to have taken no harm, thank goodness."

Kagome felt herself breathing harshly. "Infection?"

She shook her head, "no trace so far, but we are going to give you an antibiotic along with some pretty strong pain killers for about a week. You are lucky. You're a rare blood type and your…" she paused as she smiled a bit, "your boyfriend here has the same. He helped us save you."

The dark haired girl turned to eye Inuyasha's arm and saw a small square of gauze tapped to his upper right arm. "You have no idea."

"The stitches inside of you will dissolve on their own, but you'll have to come back in a few weeks to get the three on your abdomen taken out. We'll need to watch you more closely for signs of endometriosis and excessive scar tissue growth—"

"Awesome."

The nurse—her name was Yuu—nodded and placed a comforting hand on her arm, avoiding the IV in her hand. "Those are rare, honey. And you are already healing better than we would have thought when the EMTs first picked you up. Most would barely be able to blink at this point, but you already have some color in your cheeks."

"She's stronger than most." It was the first time Inuyasha had spoken up since entering the recovery room.

The nurse, Yuu, nodded. "I believe she is indeed." Then she leaned down a bit to look Kagome square in the eyes, her elbow resting on the side of the gurney to hold her up. She spoke quietly and slowly. "Tell me what happened. No one is talking, and I have never seen anything like this. It's like Freddy Kruger went for a dance inside your womb."

Kagome blinked and studied the nurse. She didn't see a gossip; just a woman who couldn't fathom what had occurred and it drove her nuts. Really, it was very much how Kagome herself might feel if she were her. She glanced at Inuyasha who gave no indication of how she should respond, and then faced Nurse Yuu.

"I was attacked."

"Dear Buddha, by what?"

Kagome closed her eyes and shivered. "A nightmare."


	38. Fin

"Sango?"

The long haired woman sat beside the monk as he rested on the breezy hilltop. She crossed her legs at the ankles and tucked the fabric around her knees closer. It was beginning to get cooler now that the season had turned.

"Monk—Miroku," she corrected herself without much thought.

The man beside her rested his staff across his bent knees and watched her with a mellow expression. Miroku nearly always seemed calm. She admired him for his discipline to at least that part of his monk's training. The slayer found that because he held that aura of tranquility about him, she herself had found more moments of solace than she ever used to. Especially after the death of her family. He seemed to rub off on her.

She sighed and held out a small stack of papers bound with a colorful shell of soft flowers and watercolor trees. For a moment, the monk simply looked at her surprised. It was one of Kagome's books she brought with her from time to time. Like a more convenient scroll. His dark eyes lifted from the book Sango held in her hand up to the woman's face. She held a steady gaze on his mouth, rather than his eyes. Miroku could see a faint flush across her cheeks.

"A book?"

She nodded, her bangs bobbing a bit at the motion. "It's mine."

"Yours."

Sighing, Sango dropped her hand with the book back into her lap and opened the front. "It's a journal, or diary as Kagome calls it."

Miroku raised his eyebrows, but didn't allow his tone to be moved beyond vague interest. "Oh? And why would you show me such a private thing, Sango?"

The blush on her face dipped into a shade of red before she closed the book quickly and again held it out to him. This time he took it, but didn't look in it just yet.

"Are you sure about this?"

Nodding, she brushed some hair back behind her left ear without glancing to the man she just entrusted her privacy with. "It used to be all about Kohaku—Kagome said they often gave people grieving journals in her time as a form of relief or therapy."

He touched the hard binding of the book. It was warm. "Did it help?"

She took a moment to consider, then nodded rather heavily. "It did, some. It does."

Miroku looked down to the feminine but mature designs on the cover. It looked like Sango to him, and he was sure it had reminded Kagome of the woman when she picked it out. It was a precious, precious object.

"Why, Sango?" He turned his gaze to her face, which was now looking up to him.

"I think…" She bit her bottom lip, then regained. "I wanted you to see what I am." She shook her head in frustration. "No, that's barely it at all. I wanted you to see how much I think about you."

The monk took this in, then placed the book neatly in his lap, and placed his hand softly on the back of Sango's. Both hands rested on her knee as they both watched. Neither of them could breathe properly, and Miroku had to force a cough to get the rhythm back to the pair.

"Do you want me to inform you when I have finished reading?"

"If you'd like."

He squeezed her hand gently. "Thank you, Sango. I treasure this."

She simply sat quietly as she gazed out over the village before them.

Shippo thought there had never been a more perfect day. The days we cooling, which was good for someone partly covered in fur, and he had Kagome back nearly every day again. She had been recovering in her own time much too long for his liking, but he knew that if she hadn't gone home, she may very well have died after the fight with the lizard. He also knew that she had recovered really fast for a human—probably from sharing blood with Inuyasha for a short term Sango figured. He leaned against the girl's hip and slowly closed his eyes at the familiar smell. Kagome was back.

Inuyasha would have shared the same sentiments as the young fox demon if either of them had been speaking aloud, but they weren't. Instead he also sat cross-legged on the other side of the human girl with his head tilted and resting on her shoulder.

Kagome sat closed-eyed and wrapped her arms around both demons beside her and found herself scratching both their heads. Inuyasha had a much more obvious reaction than Shippo as he arched into her finger nails, bumping his ear under her grasp. She smiled at this and rubbed his soft ear as he liked.

"What do you think they are talking about?"

The young man beside her shrugged and didn't look out toward the monk and slayer the way his girlfriend was. He simply closed his eyes and leaned into her more, petting her back with his hand closest to her. He felt her tug lightly at his ear in her hand, and he shivered. He hadn't told her yet, but it was sort of a turn on for him. He nearly purred at the touch.

He didn't dare touch her in that way at all yet. He was terrified he would harm her still fragile body. His nightmare of tearing her apart as she unbound him from the tree long ago had returned. It had new variations now; sometimes he wasn't the one tearing through her. Sometimes, it was the anole. Sometimes it was a child of theirs gone wild and violent in the womb. None were good and they left him fearful of embracing her in that way at all. He didn't know that he'd ever get over such a horror.

"I hope they find each other."

"Kagome?" Inuyasha opened his eyes and noted that Shippo had fallen asleep against Kagome.

She dipped her chin to meet his eyes. "Yeah?"

He wanted to be closer to her, he wanted to feel her against him at night, and eventually he wanted to mate with her and share a life.

"Kagome, I—"

She looked concerned at his tone. "What's wrong, Inuyasha?"

He swallowed. "I had a bad dream."

She wrapped her arm around him, pulling him in to kiss him on his forehead. "That's alright. Tell me about it. We'll get through it together."

He knew she was right. The dog demon closed his eyes and relaxed into her arm and began to tell her about his dreams.

* * *

The End.


End file.
